Frostbitten
by Poe's Daughter
Summary: This is a sequel to "Sub-Zero Origins" and loosely follows the events of Deadly Alliance. A year after Shao Kahn's invasion force is defeated, Sub-Zero meets Frost while trying to rebuild the Lin Kuei. Never does he suspect that she has an ulterior motive for joining him. Rated M for lemonyness and for graphic violence.
1. Majo

Twilight settled on Ikishima and the little village of the Tatsuyoshi as Shinji, the aging Grandmaster, rushed to the jail. Worry flooded him as the cries of the angry mob grew louder. They wanted blood, not justice, and he hoped that by personally standing guard over the prisoner inside, he'd abruptly stop his enraged clan from exacting revenge on her before the trial next morning. At the door of the tiny shack, he found the guard, Takeshi, where he'd left him an hour prior, clutching his spear as he kept watch. Shinji nodded to him and then slipped inside. There was very little crime in the seaside village, so until earlier that day, there was hardly a need for a jail. The hut, which only harbored one cell, was dilapidated from disuse. Thick rust coated the iron bars, and when the older ninja stepped across the warped wooden floor, it creaked loudly.

"Shinji," the young woman in the cell greeted in an eerily high-pitched tone. Her eyes were closed and her head tilted back, but her snow white hair fell carelessly across her face. Though her hands were shackled behind her back and her feet chained to the floor, the old warrior feared this animal.

"Shinji?" he repeated. "Am I no longer your _Otousan_, Miyuki?"

"You lied to me," she replied in an amused voice.

The Grandmaster recoiled in surprise. He knew exactly what she meant, but how she came by that knowledge was a mystery. "It is what any father would do for his daughter," he said. "I love you, and I wanted to protect you. For that, I am not sorry."

With a roar, Miyuki lunged at him, stopped only by her shackles. He jumped in fear as his heart leapt into his throat. He had seen many terrible things in his long life as a ninja assassin, but he'd never seen anything quite so terrible as his daughter now. Something evil had gotten a foothold in her heart and taken control. He saw it in the half-crazed blue eyes bulging from her head as she sat on the wooden bench again with an insane giggle.

Outside, the shouts from the villagers grew ever louder, and Shinji now saw through the barred window the orange glow from several torches. His daughter chuckled as she slowly twisted her head around to look up at the window. "Oooohhhh," she taunted. "They sound angry."

"_Musume_, where did I go wrong with you?" Shinji was stunned by the lack of remorse in her expression and voice. This was not the sweet, loving girl he'd raised. This was a monster. "Why did you do these terrible things?"

She grinned at him dangerously through thin strands of stringy hair stained red with blood not her own, her sapphire blue eyes wild and dark. "Such a pretty night for a bloodbath," she said.

"This is not a game, Miyuki!" he snapped. "The others mean to kill you!"

"They're welcome to try," she replied.

"It will not come to that. I swear I will keep you safe until your trial tomorrow."

She cackled hysterically at that, chilling his blood. Evidently, she was a master of ice in more ways than one. Shinji couldn't stifle the sorrow he felt for his child, or the anger he felt towards himself for teaching her to fight and kill. In raw talent alone, she was a talented _kunoichi_, and easily the best young warrior in the Tatsuyoshi clan. In some ways, she was even better than the Grandmaster himself. Coupled with her mystical power to control ice, Miyuki was unrivaled by most. But he never foresaw the young woman turning on her own people with her deadly knowledge, ruthlessly slaying her fellow clansmen for no apparent reason. She had killed several of the clan's elders as well as ninjas before Shinji stopped her with a blow dart dipped in a strong sleeping draught. Perhaps if he never taught her, none of this would have happened. Perhaps _he_ created this monster.

"You're washed up and wrung out, old man," she hissed after her laughter subsided.

"How dare you speak to your Grandmaster so disrespectfully?" he cried. "I raised you. Or have you forgotten?"

"You're pathetic," she responded, twitching slightly. "How dare you call yourself a Grandmaster when you're too afraid to kill me yourself? You'd rather rely on trials to dole out justice, and when I'm convicted, you won't be the one to execute me. You'll let someone else do your dirty work for you, the weak coward that you are!"

"Enough!" he replied.

She leered at him. "If I were the Grandmaster-"

"But you're not!" he shouted. "You're _not _the Grandmaster. You're not fit to be the Grandmaster of any clan, let alone the Tatsuyoshi."

"If I were the Grandmaster," she continued as if she hadn't heard him, "I would have brought the Lin Kuei to their knees long ago. But you let them live."

Shinji sighed. He feared they were the reason she'd finally snapped. Nearly eight years prior, on Miyuki's sixteenth birthday, the rival Chinese clan sent assassins to the tiny village to kill him. He was not home, however. He had taken Miyuki to the beach to let her practice her ice-wielding powers in peace, as the other members of the Tatsuyoshi feared her abilities and preferred she didn't hone them at all. The invading Lin Kuei warriors set fire to his large _minka_ house, trapping his wife, Katsue, and his younger son and daughter inside. He and Miyuki saw the flames from the beach, and ran to help. His daughter, in spite of the fire, bolted inside against his express commands, but her path was blocked by a mountain of burning rubble, and she was doomed to hear her mother and siblings shriek in terror and agony until they finally burned to death. That was the night her hair turned white.

After that, she was never the same. Every night for the past eight years, Shinji heard her scream in her sleep and wake up sobbing. And every day for the past eight years, a darker and darker shadow settled upon her pretty face. She was inconsolable, and the older she got, the more sullen and withdrawn she grew. Though grief passes eventually for most people, it never released its hold on Miyuki. Instead, it festered and grew until it finally consumed her soul.

"And what purpose would revenge have served?" he countered. "More people would have died. _Our _people."

"What's the matter, Shinji?" she retorted. "Lost your stomach for the kill?"

"When you've seen as much death as I have, _Musume_, you wouldn't be so anxious to deal in it. There is more to being a Grandmaster than having the power and desire to kill someone. Honor, mercy, love. These are the things a Grandmaster must rule with. That is why I have already defeated Grandmaster Oniro. I do not need to risk my ninjas' lives to prove I am the greater man."

"Your petty scruples are an embarrassment." She threw her head back and gazed at him with an arrogant expression. "At least Oniro had the guts to try to destroy his enemy, and he didn't hide behind some misplaced sense of moral high ground."

"You have learned nothing from me!" he cried. "I am ashamed of you."

"I'm all misty-eyed about it, too" she shot back.

Suddenly, Shinji heard a commotion outside, and someone screamed _majo_ – witch – loudly. Then, a hand shoved a burning cloth soaked in naphtha through the bars on the window. It landed on the floor with a loud crash, and a glass container inside it filled with a concoction of sulfur, saltpeter, quicklime, and more naphtha exploded, sending out streamers of white-hot flame through the cell and up the walls. The warped, dry boards beneath Miyuki's feet quickly erupted into a roaring blaze as the Greek fire fed it, and she began cackling like a hyena as it bit at her tabi boots. In seconds, she was surrounded by fire, but continued giggling hysterically while Shinji frantically turned around to get the keys hanging on the wall. He meant what he said; she would not die without a trial.

But when he turned around, she had stopped laughing. Instead, she leaned forward and peered at him like a predator on the hunt, flooding him with fear. The flicker of fire danced in tiny points off her nearly black eyes, and a shadow crossed her face. As the Grandmaster stood paralyzed by her wicked expression, unsure whether he should run or save her, he heard heavy metal clanking on the floor as her shackles fell off her wrists. Before he could react, Miyuki had leapt to her feet and thrust her hands though the bars, catching him by the red Japanese dragon embroidered on his robes, the symbol of the Tatsuyoshi. With a ferocious grunt, she yanked him into the iron bars and knocked him silly.

Stunned, he barely noticed her rip the keys from his hand and unlock her cell. Then, she slipped out, never releasing her hold on him. Chuckling softly, she pushed him into the back wall and shoved her arm into his throat, pinning him in place. Behind her, the flames and smoke swirled around ominously.

"Before I let you die," she began, "I want to have one last father-daughter chit-chat. You're going to tell me everything you know. I want you to-" she paused as she looked down at his stomach "-spill your guts."

By the time Takeshi, who had been knocked out by the villagers outside, came to, Shinji's screams had long since died away.

* * *

A brilliant and full blue moon lingered just above the ocean as thirteen-year-old Oki returned to the eerily silent village with his father, Nami. The two had been on the family boat fishing all day, and one of their nets accidentally got tangled in a propeller, so they were late getting home. As they walked into the tiny town, they immediately noticed no lights were on in any of the _minka_ houses. There weren't the usual smells of food cooking on stoves or in hearths, and nobody strolled across the sandy roads. They heard nothing but the sound of wind through the tall trees; even the birds and forest animals were unusually silent tonight. Oki clutched his father's shirt.

"_Chichi_," he whispered. "I'm scared."

"Even so, we must find the others," Nami whispered back.

They walked further into the village, and what they found paralyzed them with shock and fear. Butchered and left for the carrion-eaters, all of the men, women, and children lay in the roads where they had died horrible deaths. Many of them had been ripped open with a knife or sword, their throats sliced open to near decapitation or their bellies eviscerated with their intestines drooping out, but many more appeared…frozen. Oki went to a slick mound glittering in the moonlight, and through the glassy smoothness of the ice he saw his best friend, Misao, imprisoned inside. The young boy's eyes bugged out in a perpetual state of terror. Oki's eyes welled with tears.

"_Chichi_, we have to go!" he said as he started to cry.

"We can't," Nami replied, also wiping away tears. "We have to find the Grandmaster. And then we have to care for the dead so their spirits will be at peace."

"But-"

"Look," the man said to his son, pointing. In the distance, Oki saw a column of smoke rising from an orange glow at the center of the village. "Perhaps we will find answers there."

"I don't want to go!"

"Act like a man!" Nami rebuked. "A Tatsuyoshi warrior does _not_ disgrace himself by wailing like a woman."

Oki hung his head and followed his father to the town square where they found the jail, surrounded by more mutilated bodies, nearly burnt to the ground. Erected outside the charred, wooden door was the most terrible thing the boy had ever seen in his life. Takeshi, one of the clan's most esteemed ninjas, had been impaled through his anus on a thick spear drove into the dirt. The blunt end of the handle exited through his mouth, forcing his head to tilt back as if vomiting upwards. His legs, which were too long, bent awkwardly into his chest as his boots rested in a thick puddle of his own, sticky blood.

While his father couldn't help but stare at the spectacle in terror, Oki whirled around because he couldn't stand the sight of the man's eyes gazing at the sky in blank surprise. But the moonlight revealed a new horror. Hanging from a hastily built set of gallows was Shinji, the beloved Grandmaster of the Tatsuyoshi. He was not hanging by his neck, however; someone had shackled his hands behind his back, wrapped a rope around them, and pulled him up so that his arms were wrenched behind him at an awkward angle. His killer hadn't stopped there, though. Shinji appeared as if he were gagging on something, and upon closer inspection Oki saw that the Grandmaster's neck had been deeply cut open before his tongue had been yanked down his throat and threaded through the hole. And still, that wasn't enough. Shinji's torso had been sliced open with surgical precision, and the flaps of skin on either side were propped up with long bamboo reeds so that Oki could clearly see the man's ribs and lungs. His intestines dangled to the ground like a chain of link sausages, and more blood soaked the earth.

Oki promptly threw up.

Nami, who now saw the Grandmaster, bowed his head and wept. "What man could do such a thing?" he wondered aloud.

"No man," a voice answered. Oki and Nami looked to their left and saw Miyuki, Shinji's daughter standing beside them, covered in blood.

"_Majo_!" Nami screamed before he spat on her. Then he got into a fighting stance.

She looked at the filth on her boots with an evil grin, then stared into his eyes. "You're absolutely right," she hissed. "Want to see a magic trick?"

With lightning fast reflexes, Miyuki gripped him by the throat before Nami could react. Oki screamed and ran to his father's aid, beating her on the back with his small fists, but the young woman giggled and pushed him away. The ninja warrior struggled to free himself, and grabbed her by the wrists to pull her hands away from him, but she looked at him calmly and squeezed, never loosening her hold over him. He gradually stopped struggling, letting his arms fall to his sides as his eyes rolled back into his head.

"Stop!" the boy shouted, tears streaming down his face. "You're killing him!"

"That was the general idea," she retorted in a sing-song voice.

Now, as Oki watched in helpless horror, a blue-white sheen of ice grew on Nami's throat, quickly spreading through his skin as it petrified his body. Within seconds, he was frozen like a statue, dead. Miyuki released her grip and promptly did a roundhouse kick into his solid midsection, and he toppled over like a toy soldier, breaking into several large pieces. While she howled in laughter like a hyena and briefly danced in glee over the corpse, Oki shrieked and bolted in the opposite direction.

The boy only made it a few steps before something cold and sharp plunged into his shoulder and knocked him facedown into the ground. He wailed in pain, feeling his hot blood dribble down his back as he heard footsteps crunch in the sand. He reached around and felt a shuriken made from ice jutting from his bone, but before he could wrench it out, Miyuki gripped him by his shirt and threw him onto his back.

"Where do you think you're going, Oki?" she asked with a devious smirk on her face. "I didn't say you could leave."

With that, she grabbed his throat and began to choke him like she just did to his father. And like his father, Oki tried to fight back. He gripped her wrists and scratched at them to wound her, but Miyuki scarcely noticed the thin trails of blood oozing from her skin, chuckling wickedly as she clamped down on him even harder. And then, the boy felt a sudden chill surge through his body. It felt a lot like getting caught outdoors during a blizzard, right when a powerful gust of frigid wind sprays snow and ice crystals into the air, threatening to freeze a person with its cold breath. He whimpered as the sensation grew bitter, and hypothermia paralyzed him. Suddenly, Oki's throat went stiff as he heard faint crackling and popping from the ice solidifying him.

Darkness gnawed at his vision, but before it enveloped him completely, he looked into the mad eyes of his killer. "Why?" he croaked hoarsely.

She scoffed. "Why not?"

And then, everything went black.


	2. The First Time

**Author's Note: So I wasn't originally going to have this note at all, but since I first wrote this chapter a few months ago, I've gotten a handful of...shall we say..._mean-spirited_ reviews about it. So here it goes. THIS CHAPTER FEATURES A LEMON SCENE. If you're a stickler for canon or you're remotely against Sub-Zero being OOC, please, for the love of God, just skip it altogether. ****My lemon was purely an experiment to see if I could do it, but truthfully it's not important to the plot at all. So if the thought of a lemon makes you uncomfortable, do me and yourself a favor and just move on.**

**If you flame me, you're gonna get a tongue-lashing back that only I can give. Then I'll block and report you. And if you think you're gonna be sneaky and review as a guest, think again. I've got my review moderator on, so I'll just delete that nonsense. Let me clarify that by flaming, I mean cussing me out without giving me real feedback. I welcome reviews, even negative ones, as long as they're constructive and they try to offer me reasonable suggestions for improvement. Telling me I'm a whore for writing a lemon is NOT****a constructive review...**

**If you're new to my story and this doesn't apply to you at all, I apologize. The flaming was just becoming too much of a problem to leave unaddressed. I sincerely hope you enjoy this chapter :)  
**

* * *

Kuai Liang could hardly contain his excitement as he scaled a large elm tree outside of Anya's apartment. Nearly a year had passed since he first met her and joined the Earthrealm warriors, but even still the two hadn't spent much time together because he promptly began his quest to find his sister, Sarah, the moment the hospital released him. His mission had carried him to the other ends of the earth, all the way to Russia where the trail went cold and all leads came up dead. So he had returned to the United States, unable to think about anything now but his beautiful Anya, even though she had adamantly refused to call herself his girlfriend.

She said she couldn't be a part of a one-sided relationship, and by that she meant in a relationship with a man who was always running off on wild goose chases halfway around the world. Annalise wanted him to find his sister, she insisted, but she also wanted him to be with her too. So as long as he was going to jet-set across the globe, gallivanting around on these missions, she would refuse to date him. At least that's what she said. Kuai Liang was skeptical about that because even though she insisted she wasn't his girlfriend, she acted like it.

In what little time they could spend together, they _did _go on dates – to the movies, to restaurants, on hikes – and he learned much about American life from her. Anya even took him bowling, and though he thought he'd hate it at first, he came to love the way he always got a perfect score and infuriated her in the process. She was _not _a good bowler, and it didn't help that she was extremely competitive. But no matter what, she always let him give her kisses when she wasn't dishing them out herself. Still, the one thing he wanted to do with her was the one thing that hadn't happened yet, mostly because something always interrupted them when it looked like things could progress to that point. There were times when Kuai Liang was sure that he'd injured himself down low, having been made to stop during heavy sessions of what she called 'making out,' and it was in these times that he came to hate her job as an on-call nurse. Once, he even froze her hospital pager out of spite.

Now, as he sat in the tree looking through her open window from the leafy shadows, Kuai Liang knew he should go to the door to knock since it had been over two months since he last saw her, but he had an ulterior motive for dropping in this way. In the time they _had_ spent together, he'd also worked with her often to teach her to fight. After Shao Kahn threatened to make her his concubine last year and touched her in ways that made the Cryomancer rage, Sub-Zero was determined to keep her safe, and in his mind, that meant showing her how to defend herself against an aggressor. He knew he couldn't be with her every moment of the day to watch her. Annalise was a reluctant student, however, preferring to heal people rather than wound them, so he wasn't sure that she'd really paid attention during her lessons. That was why he decided to test her.

Kuai Liang's heart skipped a beat when he finally saw her saunter into her room in a silky shift with her long, brown hair falling carelessly down her back. He liked it like that. For work at the hospital, she usually pulled it up in a tight bun or braid, which he supposed was attractive too, but he preferred it when she let it hang down. He wanted to freedom to run his fingers through it whenever he felt.

Not suspecting that she was being watched, Anya climbed into her four-poster bed, crawled under the covers, then grabbed an electronic pad from her night table and promptly started reading. Every now and then, her face lit up and she burst out laughing, prompting him to smile at her. He just couldn't get over how pretty she was, and how lucky he was to have her. Kuai Liang had often heard people say their lives meant nothing until they met their significant other, and he never understood what those people meant until now. Annalise filled him with joy, and peace, and hope. He never knew he could feel those things before he met her.

Sometime after ten, her downstairs neighbors walked to their car, talking loudly to decide where to get food for dinner, but they sped away quickly. As they left, Sub-Zero watched Anya get up and leave her room. He immediately seized the opportunity, and scurried across the tree branch like a squirrel before he climbed through her window and hid in the shadows cast by the large oak wardrobe beside her bed. In a moment, she came back into the room carrying a bottle of water, and she went straight to the window and stared out, completely oblivious to his presence. A little smile crossed her face, and Kuai Liang wondered what she was thinking about. He wanted to touch her, and almost did, but restrained himself quickly. _Not yet_, he told himself as she closed the sash and then drew the curtains.

When she returned to her bed, she promptly leaned over her nightstand and turned off the little reading lamp on it. Darkness flooded the room. He immediately went around the corner of the wardrobe, wrapped his arms around her, and pulled her backwards. As expected, Anya squealed in shock, flailing wildly for a moment before he gripped her arms in both wrists and easily immobilized her.

"A big, bad, scary guy has you," Sub-Zero began in a playful voice. "So what are you gonna do about it?"

"Kuai Liang?" she yelled in exasperation. "Is that you? So help me God, it better _not_ be."

"Not right now," he answered. "Right now, I'm the bad guy. So fight me!"

"This isn't funny!" She wriggled to get free, having clearly forgotten everything she'd learned, but he held her fast.

"It wasn't supposed to be. Come on, Anya, I've taught you how to get out of this. Don't you remember?" He easily maneuvered her around to face him.

She scowled at him. Then, without warning, she promptly kicked him in the shin with her bare foot. It didn't hurt so much as catch him by surprise, and he dropped her on her feet with a startled yelp. She stumbled backwards. Then she grabbed her water bottle from the nightstand and started beating him in the arm with it.

"Jesus – Christ – you – scared – the – hell – out – of – me!" she yelled with every strike. With a little shriek of annoyance, she finally threw her weapon behind her. "Why the hell did you do that?" she screamed. "I should kick your ass!" She punched him in the bicep.

Kuai Liang chuckled as he rubbed his arm. "Oh, dream on," he teased. "That punch alone was like being hit with a marshmallow, Anya. I'm not convinced you could hurt anyone, let alone me." She grunted and punched him in the arm again, and this time it stung a little. "Ow!" he yelped.

"Look at me, I'm shaking," she complained, holding out her hands. Both trembled uncontrollably. He took them in his own and stroked them tenderly with his thumbs.

"Well, I can see we're going to have to work harder at teaching you self-defense."

"No," she argued, "we're going to have to work harder at teaching _you_ not to break into your girlfriend's house!"

"Ha!" he yelled triumphantly as he pointed at her. "You finally admitted it."

She laughed and shifted from one foot to the other. "Shut up," she chuffed with a smile. "Idiot." With that, she wrapped her arms around his waist and nuzzled his chest. Kuai Liang, pleased by the feel of her body pressed against his, playfully tugged on a lock of her hair.

"Seriously, though, if I were a real bad guy…" he trailed off, not wanting to think about what would happen to her if some monster decided to break in and hurt her. "I'm not teaching you this stuff for my health. I don't want anyone to harm you."

Anya looked up with a smirk. "I'll just buy a dog, okay?"

He frowned then picked her up and gently pushed her against the wall. "Okay, smart-alec," he started, "I just killed the dog, and now I'm gonna have fun with you. So what do you do?"

"Will you stop, already?" she giggled. "You've proven your point!"

Now it was his turn to smirk. "What about if I decide to do this?" He promptly lifted Annalise up and tossed her on her bed before he tackled her and pinned her. Then he started tickling underneath her armpits, her Achilles' heel, and grinned as she squealed in laughter and flailed beneath him. His hands rapidly fluttered over her belly, to her waist, and then on her upper thigh before he finally stopped to let her catch her breath. Then he kissed her cheek.

"You gonna take your lessons more seriously now?" he asked as he pushed her hair away from her face.

"Absolutely," she panted. "I'm also gonna start locking my window. God knows I don't want some crazy man breaking into my apartment and _tickling _me to death."

"You think you're funny, don't you?" he grinned.

"I think I'm hilarious," she replied.

"Oh, you do, do you?"

"Yeah, I do." Anya smiled sensually at Kuai Liang and ran his fingers through his dark hair before she pulled his face to hers and kissed his lips. As she nibbled softly, he pressed his mouth harder down before he let his tongue gently probe hers, and he enjoyed the little jolts of subsequent electricity that surged through his cheeks and throat. Anxiousness bubbled inside his chest like a well, stealing his breath, and he soon found himself inexplicably panting in response. He kept kissing her for as long as he could, but after a minute, he had to come up for air.

Annalise smiled at him and traced his cheek with a long finger. "So how long have you been back?" she asked softly.

"Got back earlier today," he answered, kissing the tip of her lightly freckled nose. "It didn't go well."

"I'm sorry," she said in a sincere voice. "But I'm glad you're home."

"Me too," he said as he kissed her again and threaded his hands beneath the small of her back, lifting her into him. Something about the arch of her body compelled him to push his into hers. All these unfamiliar base instincts deeply fascinated him, and like a scientist he wanted to discover even more. "I've missed you," he said. "I just wanted to get back to you as soon as I could." Now he found her ear and nuzzled it. Her small gold stud earring rubbed pleasantly on his nose.

"Will you stay now?" she asked.

"I'll stay tonight," he murmured. "Jax has me training some of his cadets in hand-to-hand fighting tomorrow morning."

"No, I mean, will you stay here for good?"

He pushed himself up and looked down at her with a frown. "Anya, you know I've got to find out what my father did with Sarah. Not just for my sake, but for my mom's as well. And on top of that, I still have to find a way to save my brother _and_ Tomas. That means I'm going to have to travel more."

With an annoyed sigh, she pushed him off and scrambled off the bed. "That's not fair," she said, a hard edge flooding her pretty eyes. She crossed her arms.

"Well, I don't like this any more than you do-"

"That's not what I mean," she interrupted. "You can't just come here and get my hopes up, and then just rush out and leave me all alone. That's not fair."

"Anya-" he trailed off, not quite certain what to say. "I'm not using you for anything, if that's what you're implying."

"No, that's not what I mean, I-" now she trailed off. "I don't know." In the dim streetlight that streamed through the curtains, Kuai Liang saw tears form on her eyes. "I hate it when you leave, okay?" she finally blurted out, her voice cracking slightly. "Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if you were doing something boring like going to business meetings or whatever. But no. You're hunting down deadly robots, and demons, and God knows what else, and last time you fought any of them you almost died. _Twice_. And I don't know if I could stand having Jax or Sonya come to my door to tell me you've been killed on one of these missions!"

The tears now trickled down Anya's face freely, so Sub-Zero immediately climbed off the bed and grabbed her, pulling her into his arms. He finally understood her neurosis about him searching around for Sarah, and it touched him that she felt as protective of him as he was of her. It comforted him to know she cared so deeply about his well-being, but he felt like a jackass for giving her a reason to cry. So he stood there wordlessly, swaying with her in his arms for a long moment before he lifted her chin with his fingers and carefully smeared away the tears rolling down her cheeks.

"You're a remarkable woman," he told her, and he meant it. He had never met anyone with a heart so full and capable of compassion and love.

She scoffed and sniffed. "I don't feel very remarkable," she announced. "You don't seem to want to be around me that much."

He frowned and gripped her shoulders. "Are you out of your mind? When I'm not with you, you're all I can think about."

"And when you're with me, all you can think about is hightailing it out of here," she shot back. "Face it, babe, you're a flight risk."

Kuai Liang sighed as he held her again. "Do you remember how much you hated me when we first met?" he asked, running his hands through her soft hair.

"I didn't hate you, I just didn't trust you."

"Okay, whatever. But either way, you were very rude to me. And ordinarily, I wouldn't have put up with that. But something about you just changed the game. Forever. I don't know how, or why, but I do know that even with an Apocalypse looming over our heads, I still found myself acting like a fool around you. I was in complete awe over you. You were smart, and you were beautiful. You made Kitana and Jade look like _nothing_."

"But I was in scrubs and they looked like strippers," she protested in disbelief. Her voice took an insecure tone.

"I don't care, you had them beat. It wasn't even a contest as far as I was concerned. But then I got to know you better. You were completely obnoxious, you were stubborn as a mule, and you drove me nuts!"

"Oh, so it was love at first sight, then?" Anya replied sarcastically.

Kuai Liang cradled her face with his hands. "Yeah, I think it was," he admitted softly. "As corny as that sounds…The more ornery you were, the weirder I felt inside. It's taken me a while to figure out why I felt that way, but I think you're right."

Her eyes softened as she cupped her hands around his and then nuzzled his palm with her face. "You know, the weird part is that I believe you," she replied as she wrapped her arms around him once more.

"Look, how about I compromise with you, Anya," he began. "The trail went cold, so I can keep working with Jax and Sonya here to find her. They've been bugging me to help out more with that Outworld Investigating Agency thing they started anyway. So I don't have to go right away. I'll stay until I have a concrete starting point again. Deal?"

"Deal," she said grudgingly.

"Anya, you know I'm probably not the best about expressing myself, but you _do_ matter to me, and I don't ever want to leave you," he told her. "You mean the world to me. I'm a firm believer in that old adage 'actions speak louder than words,' and this action is long overdue."

With that, Kuai Liang buried his hands in her silky hair, massaging her scalp as he pulled her mouth up to meet his. His fingers instinctively slipped forward when he sucked on her plump bottom lip, and they caressed her face before finding their way down her slender neck. A contented moan escaped her as she gently gripped his head immediately below his ears, causing a rush of pleasant warmth to surge through his skin and down his back. Her slippery tongue amplified the energy coursing through his body, and he gasped as it struck his groin and brought it to life. Now _he_ couldn't help but groan.

Anya broke away from the kiss to his disappointment, at least until she frantically started unbuttoning his shirt. The Cryomancer was impressed with how quickly she yanked it off and exposed his chest, and then excitement flooded him when she ripped open his belt buckle and tugged on his blue jeans' rivet button as well. Breathing erratically now, he mentally urged her to work faster to get it undone. As if reading his mind, she had his pants unbuttoned and off before he scarcely realized it.

Now naked, he felt slightly self-conscious as Anya studied his body in the faint light. Kuai Liang hoped his physique pleased her. But she said nothing and instead she merely flashed a ravenous smile at him and then pressed her body against him while she kissed him once more. Her silky nightgown slid pleasantly against his skin, so he grabbed her by the small of her back and pulled her more closely to him. Now breathing unsteadily herself, she pushed her fingers through his hair while she eagerly sucked on his ear and neck, causing powerful tingling to ripple through his muscles and force a strangled noise from his throat. Not content with that reaction, Anya stepped up her game and started kissing her way down his chest, stopping at his nipples and teasing them both with her tongue. As she tormented him that way, she rubbed his belly with her fingers and then provocatively slid them further down until they almost touched his groin. He silently urged her to run her hands across it, but just when he thought she'd obey and give him release, they moved in the opposite direction and found his backside instead.

Kuai Liang whimpered slightly. "That wasn't nice," he muttered, making her laugh. She faintly dragged her fingernails over his skin, prompting a new electrical current to shock his legs. He panted as he slightly doubled over, catching himself on one of the posts attached to her bed.

"Do you want me to stop?" Anya asked sweetly, running her fingernails along his spine now. A moment later, she flattened her hands and massaged the muscles in his back, relaxing him immediately.

"Oh, God, no," he mumbled. It was difficult to speak.

With an ornery grin, she pulled her hands around his waist and alternately kissed and rubbed his stomach muscles now, gradually kneeling down as she worked. When she unexpectedly took him in her mouth, the immediate explosion in his groin nearly caused him to stumble, so he clung tightly to the bedpost to steady himself. He'd never felt anything like that before, from the soothing smoothness and warmth of her mouth to the sudden tidal wave of pleasure that washed through his body. As he moaned slightly, he felt his eyes cross beneath his lids.

And then he felt something coming inside of him, something like a freight train. It was loud in his brain and it was powerful, and he was certain it would kill him if it crashed into him. It barreled down on him quickly, but before it reached him, he quickly leaned over and scooped Anya up before he set her on the bed and found her mouth in the darkness. As his lips drifted to her ear and neck, his hands pushed up her nightgown and exposed her belly before they frantically fluttered across her skin. Now it was her turn to gasp, and Kuai Liang delighted in dishing out a little payback.

Anya sat up just enough for him to get her shift off the rest of the way, and then she helped him yank off her panties. He enjoyed seeing her bare skin even more than he thought he would. Unlike Kitana, Jade, or Sonya's chiseled, manly stomachs, hers was soft and romantic, so he kissed it to show her his appreciation for it. Then he ran his hands over her breasts. Large and supple, he liked the feel of their fullness under his skin, and the way the hard areolas tickled his palms, so he kissed them as well before he nibbled on them curiously. She breathed heavily as he traced his tongue around them slowly.

Kuai Liang then decided to imitate Anya's actions only minutes before. He suckled and licked her from her neck down, going slowly to maximize her torment. And he enjoyed the taste of her skin as well, so he had no qualms about savoring it. It was sweet, but subtly so. As she now moaned and writhed beneath him, he understood why she had laughed earlier. It excited him, just as it must have excited her, to know his touch stirred such a reaction in her body.

Soon, Anya must have felt like a freight train was getting ready to run over her because she arched her back, sat up with an eager cry, and pulled him back to her mouth after she gripped his biceps in her hands. She kissed him frantically now, and he struggled to keep up. They were both panting heavily now, hungrily biting and licking each other like wild animals, and within moments Kuai Liang instinctively knew what to do.

He cupped Anya's face and kissed her long and passionately to calm her slightly, and as he did so he carefully pried her knees apart with his legs and then slid inside of her. Both of them groaned loudly at the same time, and when the Cryomancer recovered from the sudden inferno spreading from his groin to his extremities, he started rocking back and forth. Her body felt so warm around him that he vaguely imagined he was going to burst into flames, and that would explain why sweat rapidly dampened his hair. He grunted as he tried to feel her all at once, to memorize all the strange contours he felt around him. She was slippery, but she fit around him tightly, so with each stroke she touched every part of him, flooding him with wonderful, tingling ecstasy.

Kuai Liang wanted to investigate these sensations further, so he tried moving in different directions. He observed that if he moved slightly to the left, Anya was only mildly pleased, and when he moved to the right, she moaned loudly. But when he plunged deeply down the middle, she gripped the headboard with her hands and cried out, biting her lip to stifle the sound. That reaction pleased him the most, so he stayed there, trying hard to keep a good pace with the rhythm of her body.

After a minute, Anya unexpectedly threw her arms around him pulling his body closer to hers, and she kissed him before she fell back on her pillow and gasped in a barely audible voice, "Don't stop!" She dug her fingers into his skin and pulled him to her as if she were trying to force their bodies to merge into one, and her touch intensified the tingles that coursed through him as they moved.

"Can't," he gasped, nuzzling her ear. "Too…good." Now he sucked on her earlobe, playing with the golden earring. She tilted her face to the side so he could reach better.

Her breaths came harder now, and in sudden embarrassment Kuai Liang realized his did too. To his own ears, he sounded like an obese man trying to run on a treadmill for the first time in twenty years, so to muffle the humiliating noise he pressed down on Anya's lips once more.

When he felt her tongue plunge into his mouth and probe around, the slick sensation amplified the tingling in his groin and other muscles, and suddenly that feeling of a train bearing down on him returned. He wanted it to stop dead in its tracks – he wanted this moment with Anya go on forever – but it ignored his brain and obeyed his body's bliss instead. As it barreled towards him, Kuai Liang inadvertently cried out to stop it, barely noting the white light that exploded in his vision a split second before it ran him over. At the same time, Anya screeched as she arched her back, then wrapped her arms around his neck and tucked her head beneath his chin. She squealed one last, climactic time before she fell onto the pillows with a contented sigh.

A moment later, when the Cryomancer lifted a hand to wipe the damp locks of hair from her face, he realized that his body now trembled uncontrollably. He barely cared though. A euphoric rush flooded through his blood and carried him away to a place where all was right with the world. Anya seemed to exist in a similar state because she smiled at him with tired eyes, gripped his hand, and rubbed it against her cheek lovingly. A swell of adoration for her exploded through him, then, so he leaned down and tenderly kissed her. This time, there was no tongue, but in some ways it felt even better than a kiss like that because this one expressed mutual love.

After a long moment of gently sucking on each other's lips, Kuai Liang rolled off Anya and lay beside her. Wordlessly, she pulled the bedcovers over them both, and then sighed contentedly as he pulled her close to him and wrapped his arms tightly around her. She breathed deeply as she snuggled against him, resting her head against his armpit like a pillow. He felt comfortable now, at peace. He wished he could stay suspended in that moment forever. Sudden exhaustion gripped him, and his eyelids drooped, but he managed to bury his nose in her hair so he could smell the sweet fragrance of rose-scented shampoo mingled with sweat before he dozed off. One last thought occurred to him as he kissed her forehead.

"I love you, Anya," he said softly.

"I love you too, Kuai Liang," she whispered.

And then, he fell asleep.

* * *

**Author's Note: For those of you who hung in there, I wanted you to know that I wrote this scene simply because as a writer, I like to "think outside the bun" from time to time by issuing little challenges to myself, hoping that at the end of the day I've learned something new and that I've evolved a bit. This chapter was one such challenge. Romance is not my strong suit, and I wanted to know if I could do it. Please, let me know if you thought I pulled it off, and if not, what I could do to make it better.**


	3. Afterglow

The rosy light of dawn broke through the thin space between the curtains and roused Annalise from her peaceful sleep. For a minute, she remained disoriented as she always did when waking, but then with a yawn she looked to her right and saw Kuai Liang lying on his side next to her, gently snoring. Memories of their escapade the night before immediately rushed to the forefront of her thoughts, forcing pleasant chills to race down her spine, and she tingled all over as she admired his naked body in the sunlight. Only slightly covered by blankets, he reminded her of Michelangelo's _David_.With a large, uncontrollable smile, she draped his arm over her waist while she snuggled against his strong chest. It pleased her when he sighed contentedly in his sleep and pulled her closer, so she lovingly caressed his back with her hand. He moaned slightly, seemingly enjoying her massage.

Then she moved her hand to his face and traced her finger along the purplish scar stretched over his eye. Most women, she knew, would have been put off by it, frightened because it clearly marked him as a dangerous man. Safe men did _not_ have scars like that. But for some peculiar reason, it turned Anya on. Kuai Liang told her once that he got it when he was eighteen in a fight with a Shaolin monk. Evidently, his opponent had a thick razor built into his hat like some sort of Bond villain, and he threw it at his face, cutting him deeply but miraculously missing his eyeball. When he told her the story, she immediately decided that it added some serious John Wayne ruggedness to an already sexy man.

According to Kuai Liang, that fight with the monk earned him two marks that day, and Anya now focused on the second. Her fingers found their way to the large tattoo printed just above his right wrist. The inverted triangle pattern appeared distinctly Celtic, and the average onlooker would probably pass it off as a simple tribal design, but she knew this was what identified him as Lin Kuei. His elders slapped it on him to reward him for winning his battle against the Shaolin monk as well as to congratulate him for officially becoming a man. Anya liked the design, but she also worried it would attract unwanted attention. Still, something made her feel sorry for the poor fool who started trouble with Kuai Liang. As she traced the pattern with her fingertips, Anya quietly laughed at the thought of him quickly dispatching any potential aggressors, and then she kissed him softly on his slightly parted lips, adoration for him suddenly flooding her heart. Her man was _all_ man.

And Lord, he was _so _handsome.

Before she met him, the only guys she'd ever seen with rock hard bodies like his were models on the covers of men's magazines. For crying out loud, it was like he'd been airbrushed onto himself. But, thank goodness, it wasn't too much. She liked that his muscles were well-defined, but they weren't stacked on top of each other like the steroid fiends' who always hit on her at the gym. Those guys had so many muscles that their heads receded into their shoulders like turtles, and the sight of them disgusted her like nothing else in the world. But in addition to being physically fit, Anya adored the combination of his sapphire blue eyes with chocolate brown hair. It wasn't a common genetic pairing, but she found it beautiful nonetheless. When he ran away from the Lin Kuei, he literally had let his hair down, having grown it out slightly and keeping it a tad messy like a teenage boy. Anya fingered a lock while she remembered how she frantically ran her hands through it the night before.

And then, as she thought about the way he made love to her, a fire started in her blood, first small but quickly graduating to a raging inferno centered in her loins. She exhaled shakily as she pressed her body against his and rubbed against him slightly to get his attention. As expected, he immediately grew stiff against her groin and moaned in his sleep. Anya breathed hard as she clutched his shoulders with her hands, draping her leg over him in excitement. Then she slid her body upwards so she could kiss Kuai Liang's soft lips to wake him up for round two.

"Ahem," a strange voice said. The nurse looked up and saw an elderly Asian man sitting cross-legged on the edge of the bed at the Cryomancer's feet. He wore black Chinese robes and had his arms folded across his chest. He looked at her expectantly. She recognized him right away, but the sudden shock of seeing him in her room frightened her, and she flailed off her lover's body with a startled scream.

Kuai Liang was instantly upright with his right fist drawn behind his head to strike, the white fog wafting from it indicating he'd summoned his powers to the surface. The Cryomancer immediately spotted the man at the foot of the bed and lowered his hand. While Anya frantically hitched up her blankets to cover her naked body, he rubbed his eyes tiredly and in confusion.

"Himavat?" he said. "What are you doing here?"

"Visiting you, of course," the Elder God of Water replied. He looked at Anya. "We've seen each other once before, when my sisters and I were punishing Shao Kahn. It's nice to formally meet you, my dear," he greeted. "I'm Kuai Liang's distant grandfather."

"Charmed," Annalise replied drily, feeling the vexation dribble from her voice. Hadn't this guy ever heard of boundaries?

"Might I say, you two lovebirds put on quite the show last night," he said with a smile. "It's really a grand thing when done right."

"Excuse me?" she shrilly snapped. "You _spied _on us? What gives you the right-"

"I'm just teasing you, little one," Himavat interrupted. "I didn't watch. I knew what you two were up to, but I didn't watch."

She looked over at Kuai Liang, knowing her face bore an expression of exasperation. "Feel free to jump into this discussion any moment," she barked at him, slightly annoyed by how calm and collect he was. It was as if this was the most normal thing in the world to him. Then again, maybe it was. Who knew with this guy?

"Himavat, why are you here?" he asked after she yelled at him. "I haven't seen you in a year."

"Yes, I know," the Elder God said lightheartedly. "You never call, you never write. What else is a concerned grandfather supposed to do? Grandchildren!" He chuckled as he looked at her. "You'll help him be better about keeping in touch, won't you, my dear?"

Flustered, she stuttered, "I…I guess." What the _hell_ was going on here?

Himavat clapped his hands together. "Wonderful! So, why am I here? Well, quite simply, a little birdy told me that Tomas is back at the Lin Kuei temple right now for maintenance, and he'll be there for quite a while."

"Tomas?" Kuai Liang repeated as his eyes immediately drifted away on a ribbon of sadness.

In some ways, it had been harder to track down his friend than his sister, Anya knew, with two Lin Kuei assassins hunting each other as if stuck in a perpetual game of cat and mouse, and neither party leaving clues to his whereabouts. For Kuai Liang, finding his friend had been like looking for a needle in the proverbial haystack, making Himavat's report big news. So as soon as the Elder God mentioned Tomas' name, she immediately knew her lover would be off and running again.

Anya looked at Himavat as she wrapped her arms over her chest unhappily. "You…You suck," was all she could think of to say. It didn't quite sum up her feelings of resentment, but it would suffice for now.

"Me? Why?" He looked genuinely wounded.

"I think you know why," she shot back. Anya pouted and drew her knees up to her chest, trying to stifle the angry tears welling to the surface. A hard lump formed in her throat, and she swallowed hard as her head sank down. Her long hair cascaded around her face, hiding her crushed expression.

"I'm sorry, little one, but time is of the essence. Kuai Liang only has a small window of opportunity to find and capture Tomas."

"Wait a minute," the Cryomancer interrupted. "Last year, you physically stopped me from marching into the Lin Kuei temple to get Tomas," he began. "'It's too dangerous,' you said. 'You'll get captured,' you said. And now, all of a sudden, you drop in to tell me it's time for a class reunion?"

"Pretty much," Himavat replied lightheartedly. "Oh, but if you go, do be careful. If you get caught, you know they'll turn you into a cyborg."

Anya couldn't contain her frightened gasp at the thought. She'd remembered how inhuman the cyber-ninjas they ran into a year ago were. "Oh, naturally," she hissed, wiping a traitorous tear from her cheek. "Because what would one of these missions be if there wasn't some horrible catch?" Her head sank into her hands as she tried not to picture her beloved Kuai Liang as one of them.

"Did I miss something?" the Cryomancer asked the Elder God. "Anya's got a point. Why is this suddenly a good idea?" She looked up and at him in surprise. He'd never listened to her about these matters before. His face was an icy mask, but he tenderly gripped her hand in his and squeezed before he faced the god again.

Himavat grinned as he leaned over and patted Kuai Liang's leg through the blankets. "Because, the winds of change are a-blowing," he answered knowingly. "And, I smell a regime change." He winked, then rifled through his robes. A moment later, he produced a small orange disk set in wrought iron. An intricate dragon head had been crafted into the face. "Here, this is for you," he said.

"What the hell is that?" Anya asked, unable to contain her growing agitation.

"It's a key," the Elder God explained as his descendant took the gift. "Works the same as the one I gave you last year. But this one will take you wherever you wish, not just to Outworld. I think you'll find that much more convenient than hopping on a plane. Faster too. That'll be beneficial to you, in more ways than one, I think." He winked at her.

Annalise must've had a puzzled expression on her face because when she looked at Kuai Liang, he smiled faintly at her and said, "It opens portals."

"Well, of course it does," she replied sarcastically, shaking her head in disbelief. When she'd woken up only a few minutes ago, she was happy and full of love, wanting nothing more than to just jump Kuai Liang's bones again. But now she was upset, feeling decidedly violated by the Elder God's appearance in her room – couldn't he have waited to drop in until the couple was in a less embarrassing state? – talking about Tomas and portal keys. She rubbed her temples slowly to rub away the headache that was forming.

"Please be careful with that," Himavat said. "You don't want that falling into the wrong hands. And you'll want to go soon if you decide to go. I'm not kidding about that window of opportunity being _very _narrow."

Annalise glanced up at the Cryomancer. He said nothing, but his glittering sapphire eyes revealed that he'd already made up his mind. She didn't know whether to yell or to cry, so instead she blinked back furious tears and sighed as she looked to the Elder God. "Will you hand me my nightgown?" she asked him in defeat as she pointed to the white shift lying in a puddle of the carpet three feet away.

"Of course." With that, Himavat flicked his wrist, and the gown flew into her hands. Immediately, she pulled the blankets over her head and dressed herself, then slipped from her bed and stamped to the closet.

"What are you doing?" Kuai Liang asked her.

Anya whirled around and glared at them both. "Well, it might shock you to know that while you two are plotting a death-defying raid on a temple of evil ninja assassins, _other_ people have to go to work for a living," she growled. Then she turned back to the closet and pulled out her set of Eeyore and Tigger scrubs.

"Anya, it's _Tomas_," he said emphatically. "He would want to save _me_ if our roles were reversed."

"Yeah, Tomas," she chortled angrily. "That's Smoke, right?" She looked back at him.

"That's right."

"Yeah, I remember him," she said. "Tall, dark, and scary. Wires coming out of the back of his head, robot body. The Terminator guy? That about sum him up?"

"Anya-"

"Of course, why should _I_ be worried for your safety? I mean, it's not like he didn't come close to beating you to death on that bridge. And it's not like it's just gonna be you against him and all his little cyber-buddies this time."

"Don't be angry," Kuai Liang said.

She scoffed. "Oh, I'm not angry," she responded. "If you want to march into the lion's den and slap the hungry alpha male right across his chops, you go right ahead. Just leave me the hell out of it." With that, she stormed out of her room and to the bathroom where she immediately locked the door and started to cry.

_What was with his persistent need to go on these missions_? she asked herself, but she already knew the answer. Kuai Liang had a classic case of survivor's guilt. Tomas got blown half to hell in front of him, was captured, and finally automated. A living but soulless machine, Anya had to agree with her lover that it was a fate worse than death. So she understood why he wanted to save his friend. She wasn't really angry with him for wanting to go. But she couldn't quit replaying in her head the way he'd fought with all his heart against Smoke, and still the cyber-ninja manhandled him like he was nothing. She'd never ever say so in a million years, but she was convinced the only reason Kuai Liang won that fight was due to sheer, dumb luck.

And then there was the matter of his brother and sister. With one of them damned to the Underworld and the other one missing, Kuai Liang carried the weight of their fates as if it was his burden to bear, and he was driven with manic need to save them too. Anya tried to delicately broach it with him one day that his goals might be a tad unrealistic, especially when it came to rescuing Bi-han's soul from the fiery abyss, but he would hear none of it. He _had _to succeed. Even if it meant his own death. And that recklessness with his own life was the part _she _couldn't stand.

What she told him the night before had been true; the thought of Jax or Sonya coming to her door to tell him he died on one of these foolhardy missions broke her heart, and she realized now as she stepped into her shower that she should've just kept her distance all along. But when Anya thought of that moment they finally shared last night, and how wonderfully he'd always treated her since she met him, she hated herself for even thinking that way. Kuai Liang was different than the other guys she'd been with in the past, and perhaps that was because he had been raised in the Tibetan Himalayas and hadn't learned how to be an asshole to women yet. He was a good man, and she knew that even with this persistent death wish looming over his head, he was a keeper.

Anya truly admired his nobility and chivalry. He never thought of himself in such a way, but his innocence about that particular quality in his character also made him humble, and she liked that too. His innocence period was refreshing. She took weird enjoyment from seeing the look of puzzlement on his face when he heard some colloquialism or reference to something he didn't understand, or experienced things for the first time like he had the night before, and it thrilled her to be the one to teach him about those things. It made her feel needed and loved by him on some level, like she was his spirit guide or some crazy thing like that. But one of the things she adored the most about him was his staunch need to take care of her. He knew she didn't need it, per se, and he respected her enough to not control her every move, but it was reassuring to know that if she needed him to protect her, he would be there without hesitation.

Or perhaps what it all really amounted to was that he was different because for the first time in her life, Anya vaguely imagined she'd found her soul mate.

So how could she find out for sure if she was right about that if he got himself killed or captured on this fool's errand?

It was selfish of her, she knew, but after years of waiting for the right guy to land in her lap, Anya finally got her wish, and she was _not_ eager to let him go. She had carefully guarded her heart, never letting any man in for fear of being hurt, ordinarily shunning romance and sex because she just didn't want to get close to anyone.

She'd only been in a serious relationship with her high school sweetheart, Kellen, and that had proven catastrophic to her mental health. They'd been together for two years, and he'd pestered her to give him her virginity. The experience had only been memorable insofar as it was awful, and little did Anya know that once Kellen got a taste for sex, he started sleeping around with girls behind her back. She had no clue until one day, she randomly dropped by her best friend Emmie's house and found the two rolling around in her pink canopy bed like a pair of wild animals.

That night, her father found her half-dead in the bathtub after she swallowed a bottle's worth of her mother's old heart medication. She had a broken heart, so why not? After having just lost her to a drunk driver in a terrible car accident – her _Mamulya_ was simply driving home from the grocery store one rainy evening – and now having been betrayed by Kellen and Emmie, Anya decided she wanted no part of living. The hospital saw it differently, however, so they pumped her stomach and then force-fed her charcoal to absorb what the pump couldn't pull out. Then, she spent three days on suicide watch in the psych ward; three days had been enough time for her to come to her senses, but it was also enough time for her to develop a staunch distrust for men.

But Kuai Liang had been a different story. Unlike other would-be suitors, he easily scaled her inner walls as if they were non-existent, made her fall head over heels in cheesy, sappy love, at first sight like she joked last night, and he did all of that before she even realized he'd gotten to her. And then when he kissed her last night like something out of _Gone with the Wind_, that was the last straw. Her goose was cooked. It was embarrassing, really, how frantically she tore off his clothes. She was bound and determined to make love to him, and when they finally got down to business, he'd been tender, and passionate, and moved in just the right way.

Anya supposed that was the cool part about having sex with a ninja. Oh sure, he frequently insisted he wasn't a ninja, but as far as she was concerned, if it walked like a duck, talked like a duck, and swam like a duck, it was a duck. Granted, Anya was no expert on ninjas, but she did know they had to be nimble and flexible in order to pull off their stunts. Whatever he was, though, she reckoned she had his Lin Kuei training to thank for the toe-curling orgasm that still weighed heavily on her mind.

So why did he have to go, dammit?

As if reading her mind, the bathroom door opened and Kuai Liang slipped in quietly. "Anya?" he called softly.

She opened the glass shower doors a crack and peeked at him. "How'd you get in here?" she asked, the anger gone, having left sadness and worry in its wake.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "You're kidding, right?"

Suddenly, she realized she'd just asked a dumb question, and her cheeks flooded in embarrassment.

"Can I join you?"

"I guess," she sighed. When he slipped into the shower, she surprised herself when she automatically wrapped her arms around him. "I'm sorry I yelled at you," she apologized. "I'm just afraid."

In equal surprise, he wrapped his arms around her and patted her back. "I'm coming back, you know," he said as the water from the showerhead streamed around their bodies.

"No, I don't know," she retorted. "And neither do you. But let's not fight about this, okay? I love you." Anya squeezed him tighter and closed her eyes, mentally driving out all the negative emotions and allowing nothing but love for him to flood her heart. Then she thought about how warm and fuzzy she'd felt when she woke up, remembered how the morning was _supposed_ to start, and she chuckled softly.

"What's so funny?" he asked as she looked up at him. He had a timid smile on his face.

"Want to make up?" she asked mischievously before she tilted his chin down and found his mouth with her lips.


	4. Homecoming

A crisp, wintry breeze raced over Sub-Zero as he crouched on a high tree branch overlooking the Lin Kuei temple, his binoculars studying every figure going in and out. There were some humans – servants and slaves – but mostly there were cyber-ninjas fitted with various colors of plate armor. He had yet to see Smoke, however.

He had been in that tree for hours, watching intently to identify patterns in behavior, but the longer he knelt there, the more his thoughts drifted to Anya. It had been so tempting to stay in bed with her – now that he finally had her he was addicted to her – but Tomas needed him now, so he had reluctantly wrenched himself away from her and found his way here. He was even more annoyed by Himavat's visit than she was for intruding on them in her room, even though he understood that time was of the essence. But that was neither here nor there now, he supposed. Now he was in a tree near the timberline of the Himalayas, and as the chill in the air bit at him unpleasantly, he remembered how warm her bed had been, and how she moved her hands over his skin to please him, and he started to long for the feel of her body…

"Hey, what are you doing, taking a nap?" a slightly mechanical voice cut through his thoughts. "You're gonna fall out of the tree!"

Immediately, Sub-Zero was at attention again, and he whipped his head around to face Kabal, who perched on a branch nearby. He had originally intended on coming on this mission alone, but when he told Jax what he planned to do, the Major insisted he take someone along for back-up. He thought Kabal would be a good choice, and Kuai Liang grudgingly admitted he was right. The man had once served the Black Dragon, an underground crime syndicate that worked closely with the Lin Kuei, the ones responsible for automating the assassins. If anyone knew how to handle the cyber-ninjas, it was him. Furthermore, he was an outstanding warrior with supernatural speed, courtesy of Shang Tsung. Even still, Sub-Zero wasn't happy with him. He disliked the way that the other always turned a licentious eye towards Anya, even though she was officially taken.

After Sub-Zero regained his balance, he said, "Thank you."

"Getting sleepy, or what?" Kabal asked him through his breathing apparatus.

"Not exactly," he replied.

The other man chuckled.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing. You just looked happier than a dog with two dicks."

Kuai Liang raised his eyebrow. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means, genius, that you nearly fell from the tree. My guess is you were thinking about Anya. That soft hair and big, pretty eyes."

His nose wrinkled as he scowled, and he felt his facemask shift accordingly. "If it doesn't have anything to do with the mission at hand, you shouldn't talk about it," he immediately replied and turned his back on him.

"Suit yourself," the other laughed softly. He paused for a minute. "I'm surprised you haven't asked her to marry you yet," he announced.

Kabal's remark stunned Sub-Zero so much that he whipped around once more, but as he did, he stumbled and had to catch himself on a branch to keep from falling to the ground. _Smooth_, he thought to himself as he found his footing. His partner snickered quietly. He glared at the man. "Excuse me?" he hissed.

"Oh, don't tell me you haven't thought about it."

"That's none of your business, and no I haven't." That was the truth.

"Well, if I were you, I would," Kabal told him. "You know, before she realizes she can do so much better."

"Well you're _not_ me," Sub-Zero snapped. "And you sound like an old hen."

He crossed his arms. "That's one amazing girl you've got there. Don't know what she sees in you, though."

"Shut your mouth. You don't need to be thinking anything about her."

His partner smirked. "I think I touched a nerve there."

The Cryomancer narrowed his eyes and held up his clinched fist. "Yeah, and I'm about to touch some of yours."

Kabal threw up his hands deferentially. "Okay, man. Just saying."

Sub-Zero turned away again, his cheeks burning with anger and embarrassment. "And I'm just saying not all accidents are accidents," he replied dangerously.

They sat in silence, and at nightfall an hour later, Kuai Liang saw a dark figure march from the front gates. Even in the darkness, he recognized the black and slate gray armor. It was Smoke.

"Kabal, look," he pointed out. He wished the man had been trained in hand signs and animal calls like he had so they didn't have to talk to each other verbally. For one, they'd already made enough noise, and it was nothing short of a miracle that they'd gone undiscovered. And for two, he simply didn't want to hear the man speak. He still seethed in fury at him.

"I see him," his partner replied, peering through the binoculars as he straddled the thick branch. "It looks like he's scouting."

"He's walking the perimeter," Sub-Zero explained. "Guard duty. Good to know old habits die hard."

"You definitely called it," Kabal congratulated.

The Cryomancer had banked on that contingency. He'd always thought it'd be suicide for someone to try to break into the temple, and especially now when all the assassins were indiscriminate killers without the burden of compassion to stay their hands, but even still Oniro had a strict routine. The Grandmaster was neurotic about security. He would not stop ordering his men to patrol his territory. That is why, before he and Kabal climbed their tree, they made a mantrap on the border of Lin Kuei territory.

"Let's go," he whispered.

Both men silently climbed out of the tree and slipped into the forest towards the trap. Sub-Zero knew, having walked the perimeter several times before when he still lived here, that the path would lead Smoke to him. He just needed to be there to stun him once he arrived.

Their trap was simple, but efficient. Having had no time to dig a hole, when they first arrived in the Himalayas, Sub-Zero and Kabal found a natural pit that he was very familiar with. It plunged ten feet into the earth, was formed on all sides by rocks, and impossible to get out of without help. He knew that from hard experience, having fallen in as a child. Several animal skeletons littered the leafy bottom, victims of this naturally occurring trap. Smoke knew this hole as well, but since his automation, he'd had a decided downgrade in his instinct and common sense, so Sub-Zero hoped he could trick his friend into falling in. He and Kabal stretched a roll of wicker across it and decorated it with a thin cover of moss and dead leaves in order to hide it. He prayed with all his heart that it would work.

Not long after the two found it in the darkness and took cover behind a mound of boulders nearby, they heard mechanical footsteps approach. Neither one dared peek at the figure for fear of being noticed, so they were forced to listen instead. Sub-Zero's heart pounded in his chest as he held his breath, waiting for something to happen. Within seconds, a loud snap cut through the moonlit night, and it was abruptly followed by the sound of heavy metal crashing loudly on the rocks.

_Yes!_ he triumphantly yelled to himself.

Thankful that his mask and cowl concealed his unstoppable grin, he motioned for Kabal to follow him the moment the noise died down. Sub-Zero hadn't heard the sounds of cyber-ninjas approaching to investigate, but even still, he crept from his hiding spot quietly, keeping to the darkness the best he could. When he reached the edge of the trap, he saw a dazed figure masked in shadows struggling to stand. Quickly, he leapt into the pit behind the man, clamped his ice-charged fist on his neck and shoulder between thick slabs of armor, and pumped his powers into his body. As expected, the cyber-ninja toppled to the leaves like a sack of potatoes.

But a stray beam of moonlight illuminated his helmet, and Sub-Zero saw nothing but bright yellow.

"Dammit!" he grunted in frustration, not caring who heard him at this point.

"What? What is it?" Kabal called down as he lowered a rope. "Did you get him?"

"No, I got Cyrax," he growled. He punched the rock wall with his fist. Thankfully, his new gauntlets and wrist braces protected his knuckles, or they would have shattered at his outburst. Why did Fate keep teasing him like this? It should've been Smoke!

"Well, send him up. Maybe we can ninja some intel from his CPU."

Sub-Zero scoffed and then wrapped the rope around his old comrade. Kabal promptly pulled him up before throwing the rope back down and retrieving his partner as well. Then the ex-operative went to work hacking into the computer built beneath Cyrax's yellow armor and into his ribcage. In moments, he'd pulled up recent video footage of their captive interacting with their prey. On the tiny screen, they saw Smoke approach Cyrax.

He said: "The Grandmaster has now ordered that you will patrol until dawn. This supersedes his previous order to patrol until 0200 hours. Return to the temple at 0500 hours for maintenance." Then he turned and left as quickly as he came.

"So Chuckles, here, was the one on guard duty," Kabal said as he punched more buttons.

Sub-Zero rubbed his eyes. "Evidently." He looked at the monitor. "So what's _he_ doing, then? Or does Cyrax know?"

"Well, this is just a log of Cyrax's activities today. Nothing about Smoke's whereabouts."

He sighed. "I guess we'll just have to go inside and look for him the good, old-fashioned way."

Kabal clacked away at the keyboard and turned Cyrax off like a giant toy. "I hope you know a way in. I don't think they're gonna greet us with open arms at the front door."

"No, they won't," Sub-Zero agreed. "Thankfully, I do know a way in and out. Though, you probably won't like it that much."

"I'll like it better than being killed on the spot," he replied as both got to their feet and dragged Cyrax's body to the trees. They hid him in a bush and then carefully covered him with more branches and leaves so no one else found him. He may not have been the guy Sub-Zero wanted to save, but at least they could return him to Jax's base to find out if the cyber-ninjas _could_ be saved.

Then Kuai Liang led Kabal to a stream a short distance from the temple's imposing wall. A large pipe just barely large enough for a fully grown man to walk through jutted from a stone flattop and fed the stream dirty water. As expected, no one guarded it.

"Ugh, what is that?" Kabal asked, flinching at the odor.

"Sewage," he replied simply. "When we were children, Tomas and I used to use this pipe to sneak in and out of the temple at night. It goes to a boiler room in the lowest level."

"You first," the other said drily.

Sub-Zero shrugged and climbed into the drain. It was much smaller than he remembered, but then again, the last time he'd trekked through the winding tube was when he was ten or so. He was no longer that scrawny runt of yesteryear.

The pipe smelled worse than ever, so he held his breath frequently as he balanced his way along the curved walls. He tried to keep his feet out of the water in order to avoid making noise, so he walked with a foot on either side of the filthy stream, waddling slowly forward. Several rats scurried around his feet, and he heard Kabal whimper as they squeaked past.

"What's the matter, Kabal? You're not afraid of some rats, are you?" he chided.

"They're vermin," his partner replied. "They carry rabies, and plague, and God knows what else."

"It's not like you're handling them."

"Whatever, man. I just don't like them."

He chuckled softly, but said nothing more on the subject as he stepped through the pipe. About ten minutes later, they reached the end. A large grate with thin metal bars blocked their path, but Kuai Liang yanked on the bottom edge where the wood had slightly rotted away and swung it up easily. He faintly smiled at the memory of him and Tomas discovering this defect as they went on a hunt to find secret passages one day, and how from that point on, they pretty much came and went as they pleased. Nobody ever found out about it, evidently, or made the necessary repairs.

Sub-Zero climbed through with Kabal in tow, still simpering about the rats that squirmed past him. A short, boxy tunnel led them to the boiler room, and they emerged in a cramped, hot space full of wafting steam and more pipes. Cobwebs fell from the ceiling like curtains, and water soaked the floor. It hadn't changed at all in the last fifteen years, he noticed.

It seemed self-explanatory that silence was critical now, but the Cryomancer wanted to insult Kabal's intelligence a little for what the man had said earlier about Anya, so he looked back at him and held his index finger to his facemask where his mouth was. Behind his clear goggles, his partner narrowed his eyes and cocked his head to the side as if to say, "Really?" Message received. Sub-Zero couldn't stifle his grin as he made a simple hand gesture indicating that Kabal should follow him, then turned and crept softly from the room.

As he crossed the threshold, he spotted a young Tibetan woman, a slave named Kamala, scurrying down the corridor in the opposite direction. He frowned. _That was weird_, he thought to himself as he receded into the shadows and watched her disappear into a large room at the end of the hall. When he still lived in the temple, that particular room had been empty, barren save for the dust and cobwebs that decorated it. In fact, he never remembered a time in his life when it was actually used for something. But even stranger was the woman; none of the slaves were permitted down here in the basement level. Sub-Zero's curiosity got the best of him, and he decided to follow her.

He waited for a moment to ensure no one followed her, and when he was certain it was clear, he darted from the safety of the shadows and through the dark corridor, careful to make no sound as he ran. Behind him, Kabal was slightly noisy with heavier footfalls, at least to the Cryomancer's ears, but it was at a tolerable level. They reached the old, stone archway and wooden door within moments, noting that it was slightly ajar, and both men slipped inside.

The room was segmented in such a way that when they entered, they found themselves in something of a small mudroom with an adjacent door leading to the main chamber. Dimly lit by candelabras, the anteroom was constructed from brick that had seen better days, and had a decidedly medieval dungeon sort of feel to it. Sub-Zero had feared this room as a child because Tomas said it was haunted, but even though he still felt an irrational hint of trepidation about it, he silently motioned for Kabal to latch the door behind them. The man obliged. As it slid shut softly, both were startled by a shrill cry that vanished as quickly as it came. Kabal immediately drew his hook swords, and the Cryomancer summoned his powers to his fists. _What in the world was that_? he wondered, jumpy.

The source of the sound was on the other side of the door, he knew. Inhaling deeply, he gripped the ring-shaped handle on the second door and pushed it in. Inside, the dust and cobwebs were gone, but several stainless steel tables had replaced them. Mounted on top of the tables, Sub-Zero noticed, were eight small, plastic boxes that contained tiny, wriggling forms inside them. He flashed a wayward glance at Kabal, who had the same puzzled expression on his face that he felt must've been on his as well. Wordlessly, he crept to one of the boxes and peeled back the wooly cloths. It was a baby.

The Cryomancer didn't really know how to react to the sight, but he couldn't ignore the sudden, shocked knot tying up his stomach. He backed away in disbelief as Kabal took a look. His partner's eyes went wide in surprise, but Kuai Liang scarcely noticed because his eyes were wandering across all the squirming little bundles in the boxes. All of them were tiny, so he approximated their age at a couple of months old, tops. Where had all these infants come from? The youngest child ever kidnapped by the Lin Kuei was him, age two, and even then Oniro supposedly pitched a fit to An Zhi about that. Toddlers were messy. But babies? That was unprecedented.

_Why did Oniro change his mind about infants now_?

Kamala, he saw, had her back turned to the door and was hunched over one of the children at the back of the cold, damp room. From Sub-Zero's vantage point, he couldn't see what she was doing, but it didn't really matter. He wanted answers. He crept to her and then wrapped an arm around her, tightly clamping a hand over her mouth. As expected, she screamed, but he muffled her cries and whirled her around to face him. He didn't let go until she got a full look at him, recognized him, and calmed down. With his free hand, he held his finger to his facemask, the universal sign to be quiet. Then he slid his hand off her mouth and pulled off his cowl and mask; he remembered Kamala was petrified by all the Lin Kuei assassins, but especially when they wore their traditional uniforms.

"Master Kuai Liang!" she whispered in Tibetan as tears streamed down her cheeks. "No! No! No! You _escaped_. Why did you return to this cursed place?" She threw herself into his arms with a soft wail.

He patted her back reassuringly for a long moment, then gripped her by the shoulders and shook her slightly. "Kamala, I'm not your master and you need to stop crying," he said, also in Tibetan. "You're going to attract their attention." But the slave woman continued to sob into his blue tunic anyway.

"You really have a way with women," Kabal whispered.

Sub-Zero looked over her head at the man and glared. "Shut up."

"What's the deal with all these babies? I knew the Lin Kuei temple was like the orphanage from hell, but I've never heard of the clan taking kids this young."

"As far as I know, they never have before," the Cryomancer replied. He looked down at Kamala and said in her language, "Where did all these children come from?"

Finally, she released him and looked up at him with her damp, almond-shaped eyes. She pointed to the nearest box. Inside, a black baby with a thick puff of dark hair slept peacefully on his side. He had been wrapped tightly in a blanket made from yak fur. But the child wasn't what Kamala wanted him to see. Slid into a clear, plastic sheath that was taped to the box was an information card. Sub-Zero immediately slid it out and studied the words on it, all written in English, undoubtedly due to the Black Dragon's influence.

**GATIMU**

**DOB: MAY 1**

**MOTHER: DECEASED**

**FATHER: BOMANI – CYRAX**

A sickness like being punched in the gut exploded in Kuai Liang's body. It crept inside him, creepy and vile, and in a mild panic he pulled another placard card from one of the plastic bassinets.

**BAYARD**

**DOB: MAY 4**

**MOTHER: DECEASED**

**FATHER: HALSEY – HYDRO**

Rising panic filled Kuai Liang with each card he read, and he passed them to Kabal so quickly that his partner could scarcely keep up. He felt his breath shorten as he studied each child and their accompanying information.

**QUON**

**DOB: MAY 7**

**MOTHER: DECEASED**

**FATHER: JIAO-LONG – SEKTOR**

These were the cyber-ninjas'…_children_. He counted eight children total. He couldn't fathom that. They were all roughly three months old, which meant the mothers were all impregnated approximately the same time. Sub-Zero quickly did the math in his head and figured out that conception must've occurred last year at this time, when all hell was breaking loose in the world with Shao Kahn's invasion. When…the Cyber-Initiative first came into play.

"Kamala," he muttered uncertainly, "why did they do this?"

"I eavesdropped on the Grandmaster one day," she declared, her head sagging in humiliation. "He told the strange men with the Dragon on their clothes that he needed to ensure heirs to the Lin Kuei now that his assassins were physically unable to go into a woman and plant their seeds. Their leader said they could go around nature. They could take the seeds they needed and plant them in slave women by force."

Sub-Zero thought that what she described vaguely sounded like artificial insemination, and when he mentioned this to Kabal, the ex-operative agreed. "We do have the means," he said. "At least, they did when I was still there. Put the math right on the money, too."

"Indeed."

"Um, just one question." Kabal stared directly into Sub-Zero's eyes. "What happened to all the girl babies?"

"What do you mean?"

"Statistically, there are more female babies born in the world than male. It's highly likely that your old pals knocked up these poor women with at least a few girls. But have you seen any around here so far?"

Kabal had an interesting point, though Kuai Liang wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer. He looked back and Kamala. "What happened to the girls?" he asked her.

"When they were born, the Grandmaster ordered Sektor to throw them over the cliff," the woman said, once more getting teary eyed. "There were twelve of them total."

"Well?" Kabal prodded.

"They're gone."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that Oniro tossed them off the mountain to their deaths, okay?" He looked back to the slave. "And what about the mothers of these children? Where are they at?"

Kamala sank her head. "They're dead as well. The moment they delivered, Sektor and his men killed them and brought the babies to me to take care of. I have no milk, though, so I have to feed them yak milk. I do what I can, Master, but it is hard and the Grandmaster beats me if he thinks I'm not taking care of them well." Kuai Liang translated, and his partner doubled over in disgust.

"For fuck's sake," Kabal started, "What does the Lin Kuei have against women? I've seen some pretty shitty stuff in my life, and I've heard of even worse, but this takes the cake. So what, you guys have some serial killer founding father who had a hooker-slash-stripper mom performing the bad touch on him throughout his childhood?"

"Not exactly," Sub-Zero explained defensively. "Chinese culture is patriarchal. Women aren't seen as equal. They're seen as inferior. Therefore, girls have no real use, especially to the Lin Kuei. That's why there has never been a female assassin in our clan before."

"I can't believe this bullshit I'm listening to," Kabal snapped softly. "If I find out you're treating Anya like she's not as good as you because she doesn't have a dick, you and me are gonna go a few rounds, pal."

"I'm gonna stop you right there," Sub-Zero glowered dangerously at his partner. His powers involuntarily surged through his fists. "She's not yours, Kabal. She's _mine_. And if I have to remind you one more time, we _will_ have a few go-arounds. Besides, I don't treat her that way. So you need to back off now and consider exactly where you're at."

That shut the man up for the moment, and he turned back to Kamala, who threaded her hand through his and led both men to another plastic bassinet on the opposite side of the room. Inside, a long and thin baby stretched and pulled his blankets loose. He yawned, then gradually blinked his eyes open before looking up with bright, gray eyes. He had a thick shock of brown hair on his head. Curiously, Kuai Liang slid the information card from its sheet.

**ALEXANDER**

**DOB: MAY 2**

**MOTHER: DECEASED**

**FATHER: TOMAS – SMOKE**

"What is it?" Kabal whispered as he looked over Sub-Zero's arm.

"It's Tomas's son," the Cryomancer replied, a hard lump forming in his throat. His best friend had occasionally spoken about children, having always had a soft spot in his heart for them. He even mentioned a few times that he wanted the chance to be a husband and father someday. Perhaps it was because he was an orphan who never knew the love of a proper family, or perhaps it was because the Lin Kuei didn't afford him a normal childhood, but either way it was something that always weighed heavily on the man's mind. It crushed Kuai Liang to know that Tomas had finally gotten his wish, and he didn't even have the soul to appreciate it.

_Just one more reason to save him_, he thought in renewed determination.

"We probably should go now," Kabal announced.

"We have to take these children back to the base," he replied.

"Are you kidding me? We're not even sure _we're_ gonna get back to the base."

Sub-Zero ignored his partner and looked at Kamala. "Stay here," he ordered in Tibetan. "Don't tell anyone that we're here, do you understand?"

"Yes, Master Kuai Liang," she replied obediently.

"I'm not your master, Kamala," he stubbornly insisted before continuing. "Stay here. I'll be back soon. And when I come back, I'm going to take you and all these babies somewhere where you'll be safe."

"What do you mean to do?" she wanted to know.

"I'm going to find Tomas and take him somewhere safe too."

"But Master Tomas is gone," she argued. "That devil, the Grandmaster, destroyed him."

"I think I can help him," he explained. "But swear to me that you'll do as I say, Kamala."

"I swear," she nodded, weeping once more. "Please leave this place," she sobbed quietly. "If they capture you, they'll destroy you as well. You're a kind man, and a good man, and I can't bear the thought of you being a demon like the others are," she said.

"It'll be all right," he soothed as he patted her arm before he and Kabal slipped from the room in silence.


	5. Inside the Lin Kuei Temple

As Sub-Zero and Kabal darted from the Lin Kuei nursery, the Cryomancer pulled up his cowl and fixed his facemask back into place. Thoughts about what he'd just discovered swirled through his head. He didn't care what his partner thought. Those babies were going back to the base in America, if it killed him to do it. They were _not _staying with the Lin Kuei only to be automated when they were adults, and especially not Tomas's son, Alexander. Kuai Liang felt a strange kinship towards the infant, almost as if he were a long lost uncle or even a father by proxy since the baby's real father was currently unfit. He vaguely wondered how Anya would feel about it if he just showed up on her doorstep with a kid that didn't even belong to him and said he was keeping him because that's what Tomas would have wanted him to do. But he was getting ahead of himself, he quickly realized. Kabal had been right in that _they_ had to get out alive first.

Sub-Zero led the way up the wooden staircase, stepping carefully to avoid the creaky spots, thankful that Kabal had the sense to follow his movements. The long flight spilled into the kitchens where a handful of slaves worked to prepare food. The number of cooks had been reduced significantly, perhaps by as much as two-thirds, undoubtedly because there weren't as many mouths around the Lin Kuei to feed now that the majority of the assassins were cyborgs. The Cryomancer crouched in the shadows with his eyes fixed on a dark corner near the hearth, and he waited until the women nearby left their station to retrieve ingredients from the pantry before he darted to it quickly. Kabal immediately joined him.

Now Sub-Zero's eyes focused on the stone archway on the opposite side of the room, the exit that led to the dining hall. A short, plump woman rolled out dough on a wooden tabletop that blocked their path. He looked at Kabal, pointed to his own eyes, and then pointed towards the large space beneath the table that was also shrouded in shadow. His partner nodded his understanding, and the two waited in the darkness for another opportunity to run for it. When all the slave women were sufficiently distracted, they ran towards the space and crouched low inside it.

Now was the tricky part. Concealed by the table, Sub-Zero couldn't tell what the slave women in the kitchen looked at, and could only approximate where their line of sight was focused based on the direction their feet faced. He inhaled deeply, but silently. His heart pounded in his chest. If any of the women saw him or Kabal, they'd undoubtedly scream and that would be the end of that. The Cryomancer didn't know what Grandmaster Oniro would do to Kabal, but he'd definitely turn _him_ into a glorified toy without a soul, and he'd do so without batting an eyelash. As if reading his thoughts, Kabal suddenly punched him in the shoulder. Sub-Zero looked back at him with a scowl, and saw him gesture at his hands for a moment before he finally gripped one with his own gloved fingers. He immediately discerned that his partner wanted him to use his powers to create a diversion.

It was worth a shot. Silently, he summoned his powers to an outstretched palm and commanded the surrounding air to tighten. Kabal watched in awe as the swirling mist condensed on itself with a faint blue glow until at last, a small clear ball of ice formed in his hand. The Cryomancer wrapped his fingers around the golf-ball sized orb, glanced around for a good place to throw it, and at last settled on a spot towards the rear of the kitchens. He calmly inhaled before he aimed at the pantry, and then released the piece of hail. In microseconds, it smashed into the rear wall and immediately got the slaves' attention. As they went to investigate, he and Kabal crept quickly from their spot and rushed out the exit.

In the dining hall, he didn't have time to breathe a sigh of relief before he spotted Oniro sitting at his personal table to the left. Before Sub-Zero and Kabal were seen, the former hastily thrust his partner beneath a vacant table and watched from behind a bench as the Grandmaster hungrily devoured the food on the plates before him. Kuai Liang couldn't help but bitterly notice how in spite of Oniro's insistence that automation made a warrior stronger, he was still completely human. _Do as I say, not as I do_, he thought to himself, noting that his former leader was the only other soul besides them in the room.

That changed a moment later, however, when a deep robotic voice said, "Grandmaster," loudly. Sub-Zero and Kabal looked at the main entrance to the dining hall and saw Sektor approach. Evidently, after Stryker reprogrammed him last year, one of the assassin's buddies found him and fixed him. Even automation couldn't take the cocky swagger from his old adversary's step, the Cryomancer noticed in disdain, and underneath his helmet, his face was probably smug as usual.

"Sektor," Oniro began as he ate a piece of venison from his plate, "I did not order you to come to me."

"Why have you not undergone the automation process?" he demanded to know.

The Grandmaster abruptly stopped eating and looked at his son pointedly. Sub-Zero couldn't help but notice the look of astonishment on his face, and he had to admit he felt similarly. Sektor's question indicated independent thought as well as free will.

"You will report to the Black Dragon right away," Oniro commanded. "There is something wrong with your processors."

"Why have you not undergone the automation process?" the other repeated like a broken record.

Sub-Zero exchanged a look of shock with Kabal. How was Sektor able to defy the Grandmaster? The old man got to his feet and found his way around his table. He fearlessly stood before his son, who had at least a foot on him, and peered into his visor. "I _said_ report to the Black Dragon," he sneered. Kuai Liang cringed. The man bore the same evil expression on his face moments before he killed An Zhi for defying him.

"I will not," Sektor replied. "Automation is the only way a warrior can stay strong. If you will not submit yourself to be automated, you are not fit to lead the Lin Kuei any longer." There was no emotion in his voice, no passion in his defiance, yet Sub-Zero found himself rooting for his nemesis anyway.

"Shen! Smoke!" the Grandmaster roared, the sound echoing through the dining hall loudly. Evidently, Oniro had stationed Tomas and Shen outside the dining hall because the cyber-ninjas promptly appeared in the doorway and approached the father and son. When they reached them, both held their hands to their heart – or rather, where their hearts should've been – and bowed to the elderly man, who promptly said, "Take this unit to the Black Dragon," he ordered. "He's malfunctioning."

Smoke said nothing as he reached for Sektor with a black mechanical hand, but the red assassin instantly reacted by deflecting it and then shoved him backwards into the green-armored Shen. The latter stumbled, and in the confusion Sektor lunged at Oniro with a loud, electronic grunt. He clearly caught the Grandmaster by surprise because he easily knocked the man to the floor, and the two began wrestling loudly.

"You will give me the Dragon Medallion!" Sektor cried, showing emotion for the first time since he'd been turned into a cyborg.

Sub-Zero raised his eyebrow. "Well, _that's_ not good," he muttered. The Dragon Medallion was a terribly potent amulet that was, if legend was to be believed, full of ancient magic that supposedly imbued its keeper with immense power. How it came to the Lin Kuei exactly, he did not know, but an old book he read as a kid, _The History of the Lin Kuei_, mentioned something about it being a gift from someone called the Dragon King. Only the true Grandmaster could wield its power, therefore all the Lin Kuei assassins showed it as much allegiance and respect as they did to the man who wore it. If Sektor got his hands on it, the results could be catastrophic, and he did _not _want to stick around to see what would happen.

"What?" Kabal asked urgently. "What's not good?"

"The Dragon Medallion. We need to get out of here before Sektor succeeds in taking it," he answered. "Quickly! Let's grab Smoke and then teleport out of here. I'll get him, you deal with Shen."

"You're gonna leave me here, aren't you?" Kabal asked, withdrawing his hook swords. "For what I said about Anya."

"I hadn't thought of it, but now that you mention it, that's a great idea," he shot back as he bolted from his hiding spot. His heart thumped wildly in his chest. _Fortune favors the foolish_, he tried to encourage himself as he raced towards his old friend.

In a split second, Kabal had already raced by him in a colorful blur, and had thrown Shen into a priceless Ming vase sitting in the corner with his weapons. Sub-Zero ran up behind Smoke as the cyber-ninja stepped towards the intruder and his comrade, but just as he reached him, the automaton whirled around and head-butted him unexpectedly. Pain filled his forehead as blue-white stars danced in his vision, and he stumbled backwards clumsily. Smoke's hand immediately caught his wrist and yanked him forward towards a perfect punch, but the Cryomancer blocked his motion and ducked to the side before his fist connected.

Smoke was undeterred, however. He calmly retracted his hand and punched again, catching Sub-Zero three times in a row in the eye socket. Warm blood trickled from a fresh gash as the cyber-ninja shoved him into the large windows overlooking the Chinese valley far below. Kuai Liang involuntarily dropped to his knees as crushing pain gnawed at his old rib injury, but he countered with a firm punch to the gut. Smoke retaliated by kneeing him in the chin. His head flew back with a loud crack inside his head, the sound of his jaws snapping shut. A split-second later, his friend clasped his hands together and straightened them over his neck as if he were holding an axe and preparing to behead him, and then he drove his plastic gauntlets into the back of Sub-Zero's head.

The Cryomancer's body lurched down as more stars filled his sight, but he immediately recovered and threw his clinched fist into Smoke's chin with a ferocious shout. Now it was his friend's turn to stumble backwards. Kuai Liang used the opportunity to jump up before he leapt onto Smoke's back and wrapped his strong forearms around the cyber-ninja's heavily padded throat. His opponent struggled for a moment before shoving him into the wall.

As if riding a horse, the ice warrior gripped the wires streaming from his friend's helmet, used them like reins, and steered him around. When Smoke was finally turned, he leapt off his back and violently shoved his head into the wall. Plaster exploded as a new indentation crumbled. The cyber-ninja instantly recovered, though, and caught Kuai Liang by the wrist again, this time snapping _him_ around like a rag doll and wrapping his mechanical arms around the Cryomancer's neck.

Tomas had a solid grip – much more so than when he was still human – and Sub-Zero struggled to breathe and break free. The two danced around awkwardly. Kuai Liang's vision gradually became gray as dizziness overwhelmed him. He gasped for air as the pressure in his eyeballs built up and threatened to explode. His legs flailed beneath him, and then he heard a heavy clank on the ground. A flash of orange beneath him caught his eye, and he immediately recognized the portal key. _Oh, hell_, he thought to himself as he slid down against the assassin's arm.

Smoke must have sensed the amulet's importance because he promptly kicked it away. The movement, however, gave Sub-Zero just enough wiggle room to twist from the powerful hold. Once more, he punched his friend in his stomach, but the other stepped to the side and drove his elbow into his throat. Kuai Liang staggered, coughed hard, and rubbed his throat as a low hum filled the air. A second later, a dagger emerged from the cyber-ninja's gauntlet and rested in his inhuman hand. He immediately slashed at his opponent.

The Cryomancer backed away, ducking several attempts against him until he finally kicked Smoke in the stomach with all his strength. When his friend crashed into the wall, though, he countered with a fierce kick of his own that forced the ice warrior to stumble sideways. Then he tried hitting Sub-Zero with the dagger again. This time, Kuai Liang caught the attack with one of his hard blue gauntlets and deflected it easily. Smoke tried again and with the same result. Before he could try a third time, his opponent threw his other hand in a concentrated ball of energy into his visor. The clear plastic cracked.

The force of the blow sent the cyber-ninja to the floor, and he responded with a swift kick to Sub-Zero's shin. The other's blue leg armor absorbed most of the energy from the attack, but he still felt the hard boot. Blazing pain shot through his leg. Smoke flipped to his feet while the Cryomancer staggered, then tried to stab him while his back was turned. Kuai Liang heard the attack before he saw it, though, and gracefully ducked away as he threw a punch at his old friend's chest armor.

It had little effect on the assassin, but Sub-Zero forced his hand into Smoke's shoulder and used his momentum to shove him against the wall once more. Then he threw one good right cross at the cyber-ninja before both traded punches in rapid succession. Quickly, Tomas gripped Kuai Liang's throat, and then the latter gripped his too. Both threw each other into the wall as they choked each other, and in the struggle they bumped against the table. They lost their balance and fell across the surface, but still managed to retain their grip on one another until the assassin shoved a little too hard and the Cryomancer fell to the floor in a heap.

As he pushed himself on all fours, a large round medallion rolled like a coin towards him, and plopped down just beyond his reach. Though it was cerulean blue rather than orange, it had a similar design to Himavat's portal key. The Dragon Medallion. Sektor must have knocked it loose in his fight with his father. Kuai Liang looked up in time to see Sektor scrambling towards it and Oniro slashing his legs from beneath him with a hand transfigured into a panther claw. The red assassin toppled to the floor, then whipped around to face his aggressor once more. Now Sub-Zero scurried towards it. He didn't really care about it – as far as he was concerned it was a useless trinket for a useless clan – but he didn't want it falling into Sektor's malfunctioning hands.

Sub-Zero nearly grabbed the Medallion when a thin cord suddenly wrapped itself around his neck and pulled him backwards like a dog on a choke chain. It bit into his throat, and he saw Smoke's black cybernetic boots straddle either side of him. He choked up on the cord, completely cutting off the Cryomancer's air flow as the latter clawed at it to break free. The gray vision and vertigo rapidly returned. Kuai Liang felt his body go weak, but it still had enough energy to summon his powers, so with an ice-charged palm, he touched the cord and froze it solid. When the wire shattered like glass, it stunned Smoke and gave Sub-Zero a split second to lunge forward and snatch the Dragon Medallion from the floor.

Kuai Liang immediately felt a jolt of energy electrocute him with power. In his mind's eye, he saw every Cryomancer that came before him, from Himavat to An Zhi. Thousands of years of history were his for the taking, and his brain lapped them all up greedily. He saw these people fighting, but he also saw them living in peace in the small corner of a realm called Edenia, or Outworld as he knew it was formerly called. They raised families, and loved their children, and probably would've continued to follow that cycle that for thousands of years more had not a select few betrayed them in exchange for power. Sub-Zero watched his own ancestors' demise at Shao Kahn's hands, but then beheld a future in which they had returned. And as he suddenly saw himself standing at the head of this new generation, a thundering voice in the distance cried, "It is time for the Cryomancers to rise from the ashes of extinction!"

With that, a brilliant blue flash burst from the Medallion, passing through him and knocking everyone else into the air on a small shockwave. The tapestries on the wall were shredded where they hung, and the glass in the windows shattered, as did the vases in the room. Jagged shards sprayed into the air, raining down on everyone present.

The Medallion wreaked even more havoc on Kuai Liang. Though he tried to drop it, his hands were firmly frozen around it, and as it glowed ever brighter, he sensed that it probed his soul, investigating. He felt violated by it, like it studied every last secret to be had in his heart, from his guilt over Tomas' fate to the way he worshipped Anya like a goddess. It ripped every page of the book of his childhood from his brain, and knew how Bi-han always tried to keep him line, but perpetually failed at his self-imposed job. It examined his disdain for his father and his love for his mother, and then cross-examined those feelings just to be sure they were accurate. And while it yanked every memory of every failure and every dream from his mind, a painful, bone-chilling power surged through the Cryomancer's blood.

Kuai Liang howled as the Dragon Medallion suddenly exploded in white light.

He wasn't sure how much time passed before his sight returned and he regained consciousness, but when he awoke, he still tightly clasped the Medallion in his hands. He blinked. With a groan, he lifted his head and saw Kabal nearby, looking at Shen in puzzlement. The Lin Kuei assassin had broken off his attack, and now stared at Sub-Zero blankly. Several feet away, Oniro lay in a pool of his own blood, murdered by his son, who stood over his father uncertainly. But Sektor looked at the Cryomancer now as well, though if the fugitive had to wager a guess, he'd say the red assassin bore a look of terror through his demeanor. Movement to Kuai Liang's right caught his eye; standing on the threshold of the dining hall stood at least fifteen more warriors in various colors of plate armor, also staring at him expectantly.

"Man, what the fuck is with them?" Kabal asked as Sub-Zero pushed himself onto all fours woozily. His head swam, and he had to pull off his mask and cowl for some air. "Did that explosion fry their circuits or something?"

"I don't know," he mumbled, his head pounding with a blinding migraine.

Suddenly, a hand gripped Kuai Liang by the scruff of the neck and lifted him to his feet. As soon as his boots touched the ground, he whirled around to face Smoke, whom he'd forgotten about during this exchange. Immediately, he stood defensively, ready to continue their previous battle, but the cyber-ninja didn't offer to fight. Instead, he held his hand to his heart and bowed to Sub-Zero respectfully.

"What are your orders, Grandmaster?" he asked in his digital voice.

The Cryomancer staggered back in surprise. Grandmaster? He looked from the Dragon Medallion to Kabal and then back to Smoke. The cyber-ninjas thought _he_ was their leader. They must not have been programmed to recognize the face of the Grandmaster, but rather the symbol only he could carry. He vaguely thought that smart of the Black Dragon. A shapeshifter, perhaps a sorcerer like Shang Tsung or Quan Chi, could impersonate Oniro. But only the _real_ Grandmaster controlled the Dragon Medallion. Of course, it was also the cyber-ninja's fatal flaw. The Black Dragon evidently hadn't accounted for someone else taking the Medallion for himself.

"Smoke?" he said after a long, stunned silence. "Can you hear me?"

"Yes, Grandmaster," the cyborg replied.

Hope swelled in Sub-Zero's heart. "Do you know who I am?"

"You are the Grandmaster."

"But I mean my name, Smoke. Do you know my name?"

"Your name is Kuai Liang, code-name Sub-Zero."

His heart did joyous flip-flops in his stomach. At last, he was finally getting somewhere.

"What are your orders, Grandmaster?" he repeated.

"Man, this must be a kink in their software," Kabal announced as he snatched the portal key from beneath a table and then joined Sub-Zero. "How lucky are we for that thing? We'd be well on our way to becoming tin men otherwise by now."

"It's pretty lucky," he admitted as he studied the Medallion in his hands. Or was it? Himavat had mentioned a change. Maybe he knew all along that Sektor would kill Oniro and that the amulet would find its way into the Cryomancer's hands. He glanced from Tomas to all the cyber-ninjas present. "All of you will follow me through the portal to a military installation in the United States."

Smoke bowed to his old friend, but just as he did Sektor teleported behind him and shoved Sub-Zero and Kabal as he grabbed his fellow Lin Kuei by the shoulder. The red-armored assassin yanked him backwards, tapped some buttons on his arm console, and stared at the ice warrior dispassionately. "I will return for the Dragon Medallion," he announced before he and several warriors, including Smoke, vanished.

"No!" Kuai Liang yelled, but Tomas was already gone.


	6. The New Grandmaster?

Kuai Liang leaned back silently in the swiveling conference chair, his hair sweaty and matted from fighting and his face a colorful collage of bruises and abrasions. The deep gash on his eye orbit from where Smoke pounded him repeatedly was particularly swollen and sore, having required seven stitches just to get it to stop bleeding, but he barely noticed the persistent throbbing in his cheekbone. He looked off in the distance, his mind high in the Himalayas as Jax and Sonya debriefed him and Kabal. To his left, his partner did all the talking, recounting everything that had happened in Tibet, and he glanced at Sub-Zero every so often to prod him to speak up. But the Cryomancer didn't feel the need to add anything to the discussion, so he sat fuming in stone silence, occasionally fingering the round blue Medallion fastened to his chest to check if it was indeed there. The amulet marked him as the new Grandmaster, and the whole thing felt like the product of a strange dream.

Kuai Liang didn't _feel_ like the Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei at all – he'd only grabbed the damn Medallion to keep it from Sektor – yet the cyber-ninjas had obeyed him accordingly from the moment he picked it up. Without question, they had all retrieved the babies as well as Cyrax, and then followed him and Kabal through the portal to base. There, the doctors and scientists immediately went to work trying to puzzle out the secret to automation as well as how to reverse it. The assassins' loyalty to him was just a fluke in their programming, everyone agreed, and a stroke of good luck because it had probably saved his and Kabal's lives. But no matter what the reason, the cyber-ninjas genuinely believed that he, Kuai Liang, traitor extraordinaire, was their Grandmaster. He couldn't quite wrap his mind around that.

He also couldn't stop thinking about the moment he picked up the Dragon Medallion. It was as if for that one moment, the amulet had studied him under a microscope to determine his quality, found him worthy, and chose him. But that was insane, he decided. That would imply the Medallion had conscious thought, that it was a living organism, but it was just an inanimate object. The Lin Kuei revered it as a sacred artifact, but at the end of the day it had no more mystical power than the chair he lazily swiveled back and forth in.

It sure as hell hadn't given him the power to help Smoke. He seethed inside as his mind replayed Sektor teleporting away with his friend in tow. He'd been so close! Victory had been his. Tomas would have obeyed him, would have followed him here to the base to get help, and he could have his friend back. Instead, Sub-Zero was stuck with Cyrax and a handful of other cyber-ninjas he cared nothing about, and it was all he could do not to overturn the glass conference table in fury.

"Are you listening?" Jax snapped, abruptly jarring him from his thoughts.

"Huh?" he murmured. He looked at the Army Ranger.

"We want you to be the Grandmaster," Sonya said.

Kuai Liang raised his eyebrow. "Come again?"

"You heard me. We want _you_ to be the Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei. The cyber-ninjas already think you are anyway."

"Ha-ha, that's funny. No."

"I understand your reservations-"

"No, I don't think you do," he snapped.

"Then enlighten us," Jax challenged.

"You don't understand how hard it was to leave," he began. "I spent my whole life doing the Lin Kuei's bidding. And then I decided I was done being a slave to their will, and I left. And I've paid in spades for my betrayal. I'll probably pay for it until the day I die. But even still, I somehow got away, and now I have a chance at having a normal life. You think I'm just gonna throw that away?"

Jax cleared his throat. "Okay, back up, Ward Cleaver. There's no such thing as a normal life, least of all for folk like us. You're deluding yourself if you think you have a shot at white picket fences and Sunday brunches with the neighbors, pal. We've seen and done things most people can't begin to dream about."

"That's not a good thing, Jax," he replied. "Not in our case, anyway."

"Maybe not, but you play the hand you're dealt. And these are your cards. I believe every single one of us is given just a handful of opportunities to do important things in our lives, and once those opportunities are gone, we can never get them back. Life just gave you an opportunity, and I don't want to see it go to waste."

"I don't buy the concerned friend routine," he countered. "Don't act like you're only invested in this out of the goodness of your heart. You stand to gain something, don't you?"

"Of course I do," the Major admitted. "You'll train a new generation of warriors to protect Earthrealm from interdimensional invaders. You'll work closely with the Outworld Investigating Agency, and assist us as needed. The U.S. government has made this one of its highest priorities, and has put me in charge of overseeing our defenses. I'm a firm believer that the best defense is a good offense. You're a hell of a fighter, Sub-Zero, and I've seen how you trained my men to put up one damn good offense. You're a natural teacher."

Kuai Liang felt flattered by the compliment – he certainly didn't think of himself as much of a teacher – but he still wasn't convinced that was good enough reason to take over the clan. He mentioned it to the soldier. "Teaching men in hand-to-hand combat is a whole different matter than stepping into the role of Grandmaster," he announced.

"Yeah, but the Dragon Medallion picked you," Kabal chimed in.

"What are you talking about?"

"You were there, you know."

"No, I don't know," he lied. "And stay out of this. You have way too much knowledge about my life as it is."

"I think he's scared, Jax," Sonya taunted.

Sub-Zero narrowed his eyes. "You think that teasing me like a schoolyard bully is going to get me to change my mind?" he asked, almost amused by her pathetic attempt at reverse psychology. He shook his head and then looked back to Jax. "Why do you need me to reform the clan anyway? I can teach your men like I've been doing without getting involved in that nonsense."

"Well, I considered that," the Major replied. "But the stakes in this game are really high. My men, when they come to me, are exceptional, but most haven't learned about warfare until they enlisted. But I think with the fate of the world on the line, we need our warriors to have more experience and knowledge than that. They need to have been raised since childhood to fight. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Lin Kuei specialized in training kids to kill. In fact, it pains me to say this but they had one of the best education systems I've ever seen. I can tell your training alone has been light years ahead of anyone else's. Well, except maybe Liu Kang's."

"You make it sound so glorious, Jax, but it wasn't like American summer camp, okay?" Sub-Zero countered. "There was nothing idyllic about the Lin Kuei way of life. My training? Let me tell you about _my_ training. It was round the clock work. From dawn until dusk, I fought, and I fought, and I fought some more. And when I wasn't fighting, I was in the Lin Kuei's equivalent of school studying battle strategies and tactics. I was constantly studying, and the only fun I ever had was when Tomas and I dared to break the rules. Of course, when we violated the rules, we were literally beat within an inch of our lives. And that didn't even count what my _father _did to me afterwards. Those are _not _happy memories for me, Jax. I wouldn't wish that life on any child. Kids are supposed to have a bit of fun. They shouldn't have to worry about learning how to kill."

The Cryomancer paused. "This is a moot point anyway. I don't have the resources to rebuild the Lin Kuei, even if I wanted to."

"Such as?"

"Such as a temple, for one."

"What's wrong with the one in Tibet?" Kabal asked.

"Sektor's gone rogue, remember?" he replied. "He knows where the temple is, and he knows its strengths and weaknesses. If he wanted to launch an attack on it, and he very well could, he'd know exactly where and how to strike it in order to kill everyone inside. So we'd have to have a new temple."

"I can have one built. Anywhere you wish," Jax told him.

"Okay, but that's still going to take time. What would I do with the clan in the meantime?" He paused. "And then there's the matter of finding warriors to train. I'm not going into the business of kidnapping young children. The Lin Kuei has ruined enough families." Kuai Liang thought of his own family then and shuddered slightly.

"Well, you _do_ have all the Rock-em Sock-em robots in the lab," Sonya volunteered. "And hell, by then they might all even be _real_ boys again."

Kabal snickered at that, but Sub-Zero didn't understand so he looked to his partner for an explanation. "_Pinocchio_," he said. Then the ex-operative looked at him pointedly. "You also have those babies we brought back. They're going to need homes, and technically, that _is_ what they were bred for."

"They're not prize horses," the Cryomancer hissed indignantly.

"No, I know," Kabal replied. "But they _were_ conceived just to keep the clan alive."

The man had a point. But he still didn't like the idea. "I'll have to think about it, Jax," he finally said. "I'm not exactly Grandmaster material."

"I disagree," the Ranger told him.

"Are we done here?" he asked.

"Yeah," the Major replied as all four got to their feet. "But I want you to come with me to greet our guests." Sub-Zero sighed, prompting the other to furrow his forehead in irritation. "What, you got a hot date or something, pal?"

Kabal laughed as they slid out of the conference room. "Yeah, he does, with a pretty nurse."

The Cryomancer glared at his partner. "What did I tell you?"

"Lighten up, man, I'm just kidding."

Kuai Liang growled in his throat as the three men walked through a corridor and Sonya departed down another. He _did_ want to see Anya, if for no other reason than to reassure her that he had returned in one piece. He just had no idea how to tell her about everything that had happened to him on his mission. She almost certainly was going to flip out when she saw the warzone that was his face, and he wondered if it would be best to wait until his bruises healed before he went to see her. And then a new thought occurred to him.

"Kabal, under no circumstances are you to tell her how close we both came to getting killed," he ordered.

The man laughed again. "What, you worried she won't let you go out to play anymore if she knows how close you cut it on the battlefield?"

"No, I just don't want her to worry about me. It does a real number on her head. So if you don't mind…" he trailed off, then shook his head in annoyance. "Oh, forget it."

"You know, that almost sounded like you were asking me for a favor."

"Well, I'm not," he said as Jax led them into the hospital wing. Sub-Zero remembered it well, having nearly died there a year prior after having his rib cage crushed into his lungs by Shao Kahn. When he finally pulled through after surgery, the Army doctors forced him through physical therapy in the rehabilitation gymnasium there as well. But now, the Major took them to a more clinical section where staff in surgical gowns milled around clutching sophisticated electronic equipment in their hands.

"Report," Jax barked at the lead doctor as everyone crowded around him.

"I have good news and I have bad news," the man, Dr. Quillian, said. "What would you like first?"

"Let's hear the bad first," Sub-Zero said. Why not? The day had already gone to hell anyway.

The physician, a short man with a bald head, peered up at the Cryomancer from behind round glasses. "The bad news is that we can't safely reverse what the Lin Kuei did to these men's bodies. They removed limbs and fitted them with cybernetic prostheses. I suppose we could remove those, but then they'd be disabled. The thing I worry about, though, isn't cosmetic."

"Then what it is?" he spat impatiently, crossing his arms. He scowled at the doctor, who took a nervous step backwards.

"Well, our research is still in its preliminary stages, but it looks as if the men have a symbiotic relationship with their cybernetic enhancements."

"Are you suggesting their armor and their circuitry is alive?" he hissed.

"I know it sounds crazy, but that _is_ what the data's suggesting."

"So if you take it out, it could kill them?" Kabal deduced.

"I think so. Plus, there is major wiring running into their vital organs like their brains, their hearts, and their lungs," he explained. "If we were to mess with those, I think that could kill them as well."

"So, you're telling me this is permanent?" Kuai Liang asked.

"Until we develop more sophisticated technology, yes. Your friends are going to stay cyborgs."

"So what's the good news?"

"Our top computer analysts figured out their hard drive and operating systems. All of them had a program that the designer called "Slaving Protocols." Basically, it accessed the part of their brains that controls decision-making, and overrode their free will by commanding them to obey only their handler. The Grandmaster. However, we had one of our hackers develop a virus to attack that program and destroy it."

"Which means?"

Dr. Quillian now smiled. "Which means they have free will again."

Sub-Zero nodded solemnly, but inside he was celebrating. He _hadn't _cared about the assassins he rescued, but upon hearing this news, he suddenly and unexpectedly felt a surge of relief for them. They were victims of Oniro's wickedness the same as Tomas, but now they had a chance at normality too. He was glad the Army doctors were able to help them.

"Are any of them awake?" Jax asked.

The doctor nodded. "In fact, the one called Cyrax was asking to see you." He pointed at Kuai Liang. The Cryomancer said nothing, but surprise welled up in him. Even when he was a human, he wasn't terribly fond of him. "I'll take you to him," Dr. Quillian continued.

He led them down a short corridor and then pointed to a door on the right with armed guards on either side. Sub-Zero peeked through and saw the yellow cyber-ninja with his back to the doorway, studying a chart full of illustrations of the human knee. As the three warriors stepped through, he immediately whirled around to face them, holding his hands up to attack. But when he saw his old comrade, he promptly relaxed.

"Cyrax," the Cryomancer greeted.

"Grandmaster," he replied in his Tswanan accent as he held his hand to his heart and bowed. The wires on his helmet fell over his shoulders. "I submit myself to your will and wisdom."

Sub-Zero looked helplessly at Kabal, who shrugged. Then he looked back at the assassin. "I'm not the Grandmaster," he protested.

"You wear the Dragon Medallion," the other challenged. "Only the true Grandmaster can wear the Dragon Medallion."

"Look, I know all about the tradition, okay? But Lin Kuei tradition died with the Lin Kuei."

"No, that is not what I mean," Cyrax argued. "Do you not remember history class? Not just anyone can wear it. It picks its bearer, the person it wants to lead the Lin Kuei. If you were not meant to be the Grandmaster, it would have destroyed you on the spot."

"Told you so," Kabal gloated.

Kuai Liang frowned. He didn't remember that at all, and as an ardent student of history he _would've _remembered something like that had he heard it. Unless that was one of the lessons he missed because he got deathly ill with pneumonia and spent two weeks in bed. But he didn't feel like arguing further with his old comrade.

Instead, he asked, "How do you feel?"

The cyber-ninja looked to the floor. "I feel like I am waking up from a nightmare," he began. "I was a prisoner. I was helpless. It was like my hands barely brushed the controls – I was right there to take them back – but every time I did, something pushed me back again. All I could do was watch as if I was outside of myself. And God forgive me for the things I did." He always was a deeply religious person. Now he stared at Kuai Liang through his thick black visor. "Thank you for saving me from that limbo. Now I can atone for my sins."

"Thank the doctors," Sub-Zero replied. "They're the ones who freed your mind, so to speak."

"No, I thank _you_, Kuai Liang," Cyrax insisted. "It was foolish what you did. Going to the Lin Kuei temple. But if you hadn't, I would still be trapped inside my own mind."

The Cryomancer felt decidedly awkward and uncomfortable, so he quickly changed the subject. "Did you know you have a son?" he asked.

The other nodded. "I had a daughter too. The slave woman gave birth to twins." He paused. "I threw her off the cliff, along with all the other girls. Sektor delegated the job to me."

Kuai Liang's heart lurched as Jax shook his head in disbelief. The Cryomancer then winced and sank his head. "Oh…" he trailed off, not knowing what to say exactly.

"You should have killed me. That is the least of my crimes."

"I don't know, that's pretty despicable," Kabal announced.

"Shut your mouth," Sub-Zero growled, even though he knew his partner was right.

"No, he speaks the truth," Cyrax defended. "I should be punished. I was just too weak."

Kuai Liang swallowed hard. "I've got to go," he said as he stormed out without waiting for Jax to give him permission, heading straight for his dormitory.

He strained not to vomit. He had been a slave to the Lin Kuei his entire life, but what Cyrax described gave the word 'slave' an entirely new meaning. Sub-Zero knew parents killed their children all the time, that was nothing new, but when they committed such a heinous act it was a choice. A terrible choice, but an act of free will nonetheless. But to imagine killing his own newborn daughter, not wanting to but being forced to and helpless to resist because that will had been stripped from his soul…that was something out of his very worst nightmares. The Cryomancer wasn't angry with Cyrax for what he'd done – obviously he couldn't help it – but it made him all the more glad he had eluded automation, which in turn made him feel more guilty that Tomas hadn't been so lucky.

And what kind of things had his friend done while under the Slaving Protocols' influence? Had Smoke thrown newborn girls, maybe even one of his own, off a cliff? Kuai Liang had thought about asking Cyrax if his friend had been a part of that atrocity, but he had decided against it because he didn't think he could take the answer. But one thing was certain; Tomas, like Cyrax, was a prisoner inside his body and needed to be set free of that living Hell. Now, more than ever, Sub-Zero hated Sektor. And he hated himself even more for failing his friend yet again.

In his windowless dormitory, he wasn't particularly surprised to find Himavat waiting for him. When he crossed through the bulkhead and sealed the door shut, he saw the Elder God studying his new collection of books on the simple metal shelf. The Cryomancer sighed and then began peeling off his warrior's uniform, refusing to let the god's intrusion on his life deter him from a much-needed shower. He smelled strongly of blood, sweat, and the raw sewage he and Kabal had sloshed through to get inside the temple.

"_The Once and Future King_," Himavat began with his back turned to him. "That seems appropriate right now, don't you think?"

"You tricked me," Kuai Liang hissed in an accusatory tone. "You said I could save Tomas."

"And you could have," he replied. "I told you where he was going to be and when. But what Sektor did surprised me. I hadn't counted on him doing what he did."

"Don't give me that," he snapped. "You knew he was going to challenge Oniro."

"No, I didn't know for certain. I suspected. I noticed a few days ago that his wiring seemed a little off. I think someone tampered with him, to be quite honest."

"Obviously. He went rogue. And he took Smoke with him."

"For that, I'm sorry. I've told you before that even gods cannot see all ends. The future is in a constant state of flux, making it nearly impossible to predict it with any accuracy."

"Even still, you knew the Dragon Medallion would come to me, didn't you?"

"Again, I suspected. At least, I hoped it would. That's why I led you back to the temple. I wanted you to be there when the stars aligned in your favor."

"Why, Himavat?" he demanded to know. "After everything the Lin Kuei did to me and to my family, why would you even think I'd want any part of them now that I'm finally rid of them?" He stepped into his shower and turned the water on, letting it wash away the dirt and the tension. "What exactly is it that you want me to do?" he called to his ancestor, who had now sat down on the toilet. "Don't tell me you actually want me to be the Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei."

"I can't tell you what to do, young Kuai Liang, I can only offer suggestions," the Elder God began. "But your friend Jax is right. You have a golden opportunity to make the Lin Kuei a force for good in the world rather than evil. This could be so much more than the clan that raised you. And by training new Earthrealm champions, you could not only cancel out the darkness in your soul, but also do something meaningful with the skills you've been given. You will not live forever, my dear boy, but this would be a way for you to leave a positive mark on the universe."

The Cryomancer said nothing as he scrubbed his hair and body, turned off the water, and then peeked from behind the frosted glass door and reached for the towel Himavat handed him. He promptly wrapped it around his waist and stepped from the shower stall.

"You know, my boy, I have a palace that would even be suitable for the new temple," the god volunteered.

"Oh, really?" Sub-Zero said flatly.

"You better believe it. I built it in the North Pole where I never want for snow and ice."

Kuai Liang remembered his ancestor's affinity for the colder manifestation of water, and his passion for it spawned the first Cryomancers. The news that the Elder God took up residence in one of the coldest places on Earth came as no surprise to him. "And you're just giving it to me?" he asked skeptically.

"Well, I have an abundance of palaces and temples in all the realms. The way I see it, it's going to a good cause. I can take you to see it. And Annalise, if she wants."

"I don't know. You didn't exactly make a good impression on her," he said.

"I did that on purpose," the Elder God winked. "As upset as I made her, that girl held it in check remarkably well. That's something she probably learned caring for the nut cases of the world."

"True," he agreed as he pulled on clean street clothes. "But just for future reference, don't do that again."

"So are you going to do what Jax suggests? Are you going to be the Grandmaster?"

"You're making it difficult to say no," Kuai Liang admitted. "But there's a still a lot of bad blood."

"I know," Himavat replied gently.

"And I don't know how I'd even recruit people," he said. "I have the cyber-ninjas, I know-"

"Don't forget all those babies," the Elder God interrupted.

"It's going to be at least two or three years before I can start teaching them," the other responded. "So I'm going to be short quite a few people. And since I'm not going into the business of kidnapping children, that presents me with a big problem."

"Have a tournament," Himavat suggested. "Invite the winners to serve the Lin Kuei. That will solve the immediate problem of not having a clan to work with. And then, you can send out seekers into the world to adopt orphans. You know there are plenty of children in the world who will never get adopted because they're too old for would-be parents' liking. So by taking them in, you get the warriors you need without resorting to kidnapping, and those children get a better life and a home."

"How do you know it would be a better life?" Sub-Zero countered. "How can you be so sure?"

Himavat got to his feet with a smile. "Because I have faith that you'll _make_ it better, my boy." He patted him on the cheek. "You'll be what the Grandmaster should've been all along to the Lin Kuei warriors. A teacher, a mentor, a father. Not the vicious tyrant you knew and hated."

"Do you think the Lin Kuei could survive that kind of a change?"

The other chuckled. "My dear Kuai Liang. If there's one thing I know about you, it's that you've got your old coot of a granddad's stubbornness running through your veins. That's the stubbornness of an Elder God!" He looked terribly proud of that fact. "The Lin Kuei will survive because your _will_ couldn't have it any other way."

The Cryomancer smiled now. He felt flattered and encouraged by his ancestor's kind words. "Thanks, Himavat."

"So are you going to take the job?"

"Yeah," he said. "But only on my terms. I'm not going to have the Lin Kuei be anyone's lackeys, even if that someone is my friend. I trust Jax, but I don't trust his government."

"_Now_ you sound like a Grandmaster," the other grinned. "So I'll leave you to it. I'll be back shortly to take you on the grand tour." And with that, he vanished with his usual watery whoosh, leaving Kuai Liang wondering how to break the news to Anya and his mother.


	7. This Just In

"I just love your hair, Babby," Maggie said as she ran her hairbrush through Annalise's long tresses. Though the full-blooded Irishwoman lived most of her life in America, and had lost all but the slightest traces of her natural brogue, the little phrases and sayings from the old country occasionally trickled into her dialect. Anya loved being called Babby – baby to Americans – because it filled a dark void of loneliness and sorrow to hear such a term of endearment from her pseudo-mother. She also loved how Maggie frequently insisted she brush the young woman's hair; while it afforded the older woman something of a hobby, it reminded Anya of the way her Russian _Mamulya_ used to spend hours combing her locks, one hundred slow strokes on all sides. But Maggie did something that Anya's mother never did: she twisted it in intricate Celtic knots and braids.

Tonight, however, as she sat on Maggie's huge, overstuffed couch in her neoclassical living room, her thoughts were thousands of miles away in Tibet. Anya was certain that this time, Jax was going to show up at her front door and deliver bad news about Kuai Liang. So she fled her apartment where she was making herself nuts waiting for the soldier to show up, and headed straight for Maggie's house for some comfort. And the woman hadn't failed to deliver. She met Anya at the door with Irish coffee heavy on the whiskey, and continued to ply her with liquor as the evening wore on. But now, four coffees and a mild headache later, the nurse still couldn't stop worrying about Kuai Liang. So she gathered her knees to her chin, closed her eyes while Maggie brushed out her hair, and silently prayed to anyone who was listening.

"He'll be all right, love," the older woman said as she wrapped her arm around Anya and hugged her from behind. "You'll only make yourself sick worrying so much."

The nurse craned her head around to face her. "Why aren't you more worried, Maggie?" she asked.

"Oh, I _am_ worried," she said. "But I have faith that everything will work out the way it's supposed to. I know my son, and he's a strong boy. He'll be back."

"I wish I felt so certain."

"I know, Babby." Maggie squeezed her shoulder, and Anya nuzzled it. "I think it's time for more coffee," the Irishwoman announced as she let go of the nurse's shoulder and headed towards the kitchen.

Anya chuckled softly. "I like your style, Maggie," she said as the doorbell rang.

"Will you be a dear and answer that?"

"Sure," she said, wondering who was calling this late at night.

Anya got to her feet and walked to the front door while she heard Maggie shuffling loudly around the kitchen. She felt woozy from all the whiskey, but not completely drunk. Still, her faculties were just slow enough that when she flung open the heavy oak door and a man swept her up in his arms, it took her a moment to realize it was Kuai Liang. She yelped in surprise as his hands burrowed through her hair and pulled her up to kiss her. She quit struggling as an excited shiver ran down her spine, and she wrapped her arm around his neck so she could kiss him back.

When he finally released her several seconds later, her tears had returned, but this time they were happy. "You're back," she said with a smile as she looked up at him. Then she noticed all the goose-eggs and stitches, and she frowned. "And you're hurt."

"I told you I'd be back, and it looks worse than it is," he said almost curtly, crossing the threshold and closing the door. Then he grabbed her once again, but this time he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly. Immediately, Anya sensed the sorrow and tension.

"Kuai Liang, what's wrong?" she asked as she rubbed his back.

"Babby!" Maggie's voice cried before he could answer. "You see, Anya, I told you that you had nothing to worry about." The Cryomancer released her as his mother approached, and he kissed her on the cheek and hugged her as well. "How did it go?" the older woman asked as she took him by the hand and led him towards the living room.

"Not good," he muttered tiredly.

"You didn't answer my question," Anya prodded as he sank onto the sofa. She immediately sat beside him and looked him directly in the eyes. It looked like eighty-thousand emotions swirled through their blueness like a maelstrom.

"Well," he began, "I didn't rescue Tomas, but I _did_ get a promotion, so I suppose that's something."

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

Kuai Liang immediately delved into a story about how he and Kabal snuck into the temple. He spoke of finding babies there, and how one of them belonged to Smoke, and how the Lin Kuei killed the girls and murdered the mothers. Then he briefly glossed over his battle with Smoke and Sektor's attack on Oniro. Anya had heard stories about Oniro before, and she shuddered as he spoke of him, but God help her for feeling thankful that wicked man was now dead. And then Kuai Liang told her how he'd picked up something that belonged to Oniro called the Dragon Medallion, and that now the cyber-ninjas thought he was the Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei, so he led them back to the base where the doctors had been able to free their minds.

Anya felt so stunned by his tale that she couldn't even speak. Thankfully, Maggie hadn't lost her voice. "They _threw_ the little babies off the mountain?" she asked incredulously. "Why? Why would they do such a horrible thing?"

"Why did the Lin Kuei do any of the horrible things they did?" he replied. He wasn't being flippant, she could tell, he just genuinely didn't have an answer to give his mother.

Maggie's eyes now filled with compassionate tears. "Those poor things!" she cried as they streamed down her cheeks. "Do you think that's what your father did to Sarah?"

Kuai Liang winced and looked at the floor. "I don't know, Mom," he said. "Maybe."

The older woman got to her feet, clutching her mouth with both hands to stifle the sobs. Anya immediately jumped up and went to her, wrapping her arms around her to comfort her. As she let her pseudo-mother cry on her shoulder, she looked back at him.

"Well, I'm just thankful that you've stopped them and saved everyone you could. Those babies won't ever have to know the Lin Kuei because of you," she said.

He cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Actually, Ahn, I have something to tell you."

She didn't like the sound of that. "What?" she asked suspiciously.

"Jax asked me to take over as the Grandmaster. You know, to train new Earthrealm warriors, and-"

Now she _really _didn't like the sound of that. "And you told him no, you're not going back to that evil, awful clan ever again, right?" she interrupted.

"I told him yes."

The first time Anya ever took a shot of straight whiskey, no mixer to cut the harshness, her stomach instantly clamped into a hard ball and her lungs burned with infectious fire. She had immediately almost doubled over and nearly threw up in the kitchen sink. It had been worse than being punched and was more like someone detonated a bomb in her gut. But that pain paled in comparison to the news Kuai Liang just dropped on her. Anya immediately released Maggie and sank onto the plush arm chair in shock, unable to breathe.

"Please tell me you're kidding," his mother said, anger creeping to her voice.

"No, I'm not."

"Boy, are you a sandwich short of a picnic?" she demanded to know. "After everything they've done to me, to _us_, you tell me you're going back to them all willy-nilly?"

"It's going to be different this time. Everything is going to be different." He looked over to Anya, who was shifting uncomfortably in the chair to dislodge the stone in her lungs. "Why aren't you saying anything?" he asked.

Rationally, Anya knew it was selfish of her, but the only thought running through her head was _what about me?_ Where did _she_ fit into this equation? The Lin Kuei didn't exactly like girls hanging around, she knew, so she felt certain that this was his good-bye speech. The only guy she ever loved with every fiber of her being was dumping her to go lead a clan of assassins. If this were a movie, this line of bullshit would've sounded absolutely stupid, but somehow it was even worse in real life. The weight on her chest crushed her now.

"I can't breathe," she choked as she staggered to her feet and headed towards the door. She needed some air.

"Anya, where are you going?" he asked as he got up and followed her.

"I need to be anywhere but here," she mumbled. Now a thousand different feelings whirled through her, but at the forefront of her brain was humiliation at this betrayal. She'd been so stupid, acting like a lovesick puppy all this time, thinking for once he'd been different. But just like the rest of them, he got what he needed from her and that was that, Jack. Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment and she struggled not to cry. She'd be damned if she let him see her shed any more tears on his account.

"Don't be like that," he said.

"Don't tell me what to be like!" she shrieked, the fury instantly replacing the pain.

"You didn't even give me a chance to finish," he protested as she flung open the door, not caring as it slammed into the wall.

"I don't want to hear the rest," she growled as she stormed to her Harley sport bike. He and Maggie followed her. "I've heard enough."

"Babby, you've been drinking," Maggie called. "You're not safe to drive."

"I don't particularly care at the moment, Maggie," she hissed as she pulled on her helmet. She didn't say so, but she didn't plan to drive that far. Just to the end of the lane where she would stop and start walking home. Maybe if she was lucky, some axe murderer would pick her up and put her out of her misery because then at least she wouldn't have to feel this way inside.

"Annalise, stop and listen to me!" he yelled as he grabbed her arm. Something snapped inside of her then, a conglomeration of betrayal, grief, anger, and sadness that exploded like a mushroom cloud on top of her heart. With a ferocious roar, she kicked Kuai Liang as hard as she could in the shin, then leapt onto her motorcycle as he stumbled to the ground. Without another word, she sped away, finally free to let the tears flow.

At the end of the long lane, a little bridge stretched in a gentle arc over a stream before joining with the highway, and it was there Anya hit a loose patch of gravel and lost control of her bike. By that point, she was crying so hard and driving just fast enough that there was no way to regain her balance, so she laid the motorcycle down on the ground and slid across the road hard. Instantly, a biting, burning pain ripped at her exposed arms and the skin on her back, and her head bounced along the ground, jarring her neck as white explosions filled her eyes with each thud. Thankfully, her helmet shielded her from serious trauma, and she crashed into the bushes relatively unscathed. After angrily kicking her hot bike off her body, she staggered to her feet, and quickly discovered that she had sprained an ankle when she stepped towards the bridge.

With a furious, incoherent shout, Anya yanked her helmet from her head and threw it at the trees as the smell of gasoline wafted into the air. Then she kicked the wooden guardrail with her bad foot, not even registering the pins and needles stabbing at the bone when she did, before finally sinking to her knees and dropping to all fours. Blood trickled from the road rash on her arms and back, but she didn't notice it or the persistent stinging from the wounds. The weight on her chest grew steadily heavier, sparking stray electrical shocks of pain from her heart to her extremities. So this was how a heart breaking truly felt.

"You look lost, little one," a new voice said, but she didn't care, so she didn't look. A firm hand gripped her shoulder and pulled her up. Anya immediately recognized Himavat.

"_You_," she growled. "This is all your fault. If you hadn't sent Kuai Liang off to Tibet to catch Tomas, none of this would've happened! And now I've lost him!" She collapsed into a new wave of tears, but didn't fight it when the Elder God wrapped his arms around her.

"You're hurt," he said. "Let me heal you."

"No," she snapped. "I'm fine. Besides, I don't want any help from you. Don't you think you've done enough?"

"Did you even bother to listen to everything he had to say?" he asked.

"No," she admitted. "Why should I? I knew what he was going to say."

"Did you really?"

Anya looked at the god with soggy eyes. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, I think this might be a huge misunderstanding between you and him," he said gently as he wiped away her tears with his thumb. "How can someone who is so patient with an old coot like me be so impatient with the man she loves?" he asked. "Of course, Kuai Liang is culpable in this as well. Growing up the way he did, he hasn't exactly developed good social skills. He shouldn't have waited to tell you the rest."

"The rest of what?" she demanded to know.

He smiled at her. "You know, little one, I've known him since he was born. I've watched him grow into the man he is today. You can literally count on one hand the people he actually cares about in this world. But you? You're at the top of that already short list. He's crazy about you. That boy is a pillar of ice, no pun intended, with everyone else he knows, even Tomas. But not with you. You get to see the side of him no one else does. Not to get all mushy on you, or anything." He winked.

"But if that's true, then why is he leaving me?" she wanted to know.

"Did he once say that he was leaving you?"

Anya thought about it. "Well, no…" Now she felt foolish. She'd just automatically jumped to that conclusion. "But Himavat, how can he be the Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei _and_ be with me? The Lin Kuei don't sound like they're very tolerant of women."

"That's true, little one," the Elder God explained. "But the beauty of being the Grandmaster is that you get to change the rules you don't like. He was right when he told you and Maggie that the Lin Kuei would be different now." He paused. "You know, he really resisted me and his friend, Jax, on this point. He _did_ say no at first. Several times in fact. I really had to sweet talk him, and in the end, I think the only way he's going to follow through with this is if _you're _there with him."

"Oh," she said. Now she felt _really_ stupid. "I'm such an idiot," she whimpered as she dried her eyes. The weight on her chest receded.

"Well, people in love are idiots," he chuckled. "Kuai Liang's an idiot too. Don't tell him I told you this, but he nearly fell out of a tree earlier today because he was thinking about you."

Hope and mirth swelled in Anya's heart. "Really?" she asked, halfway smiling now.

"Really." Himavat cupped her chin with his fingers and tilted her face upwards. "I think that you need to go back to Maggie's house and listen to what he has to say. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised if you do."

"I can't do that," she replied. "I kicked him. He probably hates me now."

The Elder God laughed heartily at that. "Not remotely!" he cried. "You just need to swallow your pride and apologize."

Anya sighed. "All right," she reluctantly agreed. She was _not_ looking forward to eating crow. But Himavat was right. She needed to apologize for acting like a crazed lunatic, even though her behavior could partially be blamed on copious amounts of alcohol. No more Irish coffees for her.

"That's a good girl," he replied as he kissed her forehead. "I'll see you soon, little one." And then he was gone. Anya thought she heard the sound of a waterfall crashing over rocks.

She stood in the moonlit darkness for a long moment, gathering her thoughts, and then began the long hike back to Maggie's mansion. She listened to the gravel crunch under her scuffed Doc Martens as she limped, trying to ignore the soreness that now throbbed in her muscles. The blood from her road rash had dampened her t-shirt and dripped onto her favorite jeans, and it was already drying into a stiff layer on her skin. It was going to be fun explaining this to Maggie, who had warned her not to drive in her condition. Oh well. Humiliation was a good teacher.

A short distance from the bridge, Anya heard someone trotting towards her, and in a moment she saw Kuai Liang emerge from the leafy shadows cast by the tall trees. Burning embarrassment flooded her cheeks, and she looked down at the ground, quelling the urge to run in shame. She had been a reasonably well-adjusted adult, sane, and normal until he came into the picture. Now, she felt like a raging nutcase who belonged in Rockford right next to Edward and all her other patients. She'd never worried so much, cared so much, or even _loved_ so much in her life. So it was humiliating that she, a rational woman, had become a certifiable lunatic because of him, and she couldn't bear to look him in the eyes as he approached.

"Anya! What happened to you?" he asked with grave concern. He immediately lifted her arms to examine her chewed up skin. "You're all bloody."

"I crashed my bike," she muttered as Kuai Liang brushed some gravel from her elbow. "Ow!" she yelped.

"Sorry," he apologized. "Did you hit your head?" Now he gripped her face in his hands and looked into her eyes, undoubtedly trying to see if she had a concussion. She almost laughed at that. He wasn't going to be successful with that test in the dark. But instead of laughing, she pulled away, the pain of looking him in the eyes worse than any of her minor injuries.

"No," she answered. "I had my helmet, remember? I'm all right. Just banged up a bit."

"I think I should take you to the hospital just to be sure."

She chuckled softly. "Now _that's_ a switch. Why did you come get me?" she asked.

"Because I love you," he said simply. "And I know you're smart enough not to drive like that. I figured you'd stop at the end of the lane and walk from there. I didn't want you walking alone in the dark at this time of night."

Anya gave him a wayward look. Talk about uncanny. He'd practically read her mind. "Well, you're right about all of that," she confessed. "But I hadn't planned on a bush stopping me. Better a bush than a car, I guess." She started limping towards the house again.

"Let me carry you," he told her as he started walking too.

"I'm fine, really," she said. She mustered the courage to look at him, and she smiled faintly as she threaded her fingers through his. Tiny stabs of humiliation coursed through her when she saw eyes so full of concern and love look back at her. _You're such an idiot_, she yelled at herself.

"I'm sorry I made you so upset," he apologized. "I-"

"No, don't," she interrupted him. "You don't have anything to be sorry for. _I_ do. I'm a royal jackass. I know it, and all I can say is that I'll work on my temper."

He stopped in his tracks, forcing her to stop as well, then tenderly kissed her forehead. "I don't know that you're a jackass," he began with a soft laugh, "I just wish I knew what you were thinking half the time."

She swallowed hard, choking on her pride. "I _thought_ you were telling me you were breaking up with me," she admitted.

Kuai Liang's eyebrows furrowed. Then he wrapped his arms around her. "Oh, Anya, that was really dumb of you."

"Gee, thanks. I feel so reassured now."

"Please. I can see it on your face that you're thinking the same thing."

_Damn him for being right_! She shrugged. "Yeah."

"I would hope by now you'd know better," he said. "You're not getting rid of me that easily." He brushed the strands of messy hair from her face, and then tilted his head. "Never."

"Tell me the rest," she blurted out.

"What?" A look of confusion crossed his face.

"You said that I didn't let you tell me everything. So tell me the rest."

Kuai Liang smiled and then stroked her cheek with his thumb. "Himavat is giving me his temple in the North Pole, and I'm going to organize a tournament to recruit new fighters. And I want you to come with me when I go."

_Oh, girl, you really are an idiot_, she yelled at herself. Once more, Anya couldn't breathe, but this time it felt like a good thing. "You want me to go to your tournament with you, or…" she trailed off, uncertain exactly what he meant, hopeful butterflies flapping in her stomach.

"Well, that too, but I meant permanently."

Forget butterflies. Now a flock of birds did stunt maneuvers inside her. "Are you serious?"

He smirked. "No, I want to live in the North Pole with just a bunch of other men, Ahn. All work and no play. It'll be just like old times." He pulled her close and kissed her. Then he rested his forehead on hers. "Of course I'm serious. I hate leaving you as much as you hate me leaving. I don't want to do that anymore. I want you by my side."

She bit her lip to stifle the happy tears threatening to burst from her eyes. Lord, if she cried any more today, she was going to turn into a piece of jerky from dehydration. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and kissed his cheek. "I really am sorry I'm such a jackass," she apologized. "I'll try to be better because you deserve better."

Kuai Liang ran his hands through her hair, evoking pleasant tingling in her body in spite of the pain from her injuries. "Is that a yes?" he asked, nuzzling the side of her head. "You'll come with me?"

"Of course I will," she said, closing her eyes.

"I promise I won't let you want for anything."

Anya loosened her hold on him and looked at him with the most sincere expression she could muster. Now it was her turn to stroke his cheek. "As long as I have you I don't need anything else." With that, she pressed her lips to his and suckled gently for a long moment.

When she finally pulled away, a devious smirk played on his face a second before he swept her legs from beneath her and scooped her up in his arms. "You're too easy," he chuckled as he marched towards the house.

"Will you put me down?" she cried, feigning exasperation. "I told you I can walk."

"No way, it's far more fun seeing that look on your face."

"What look?"

"The 'I'm-gonna-pretend-to-hate-being-carried-even-though-we-both-know-I'm-secretly-relieved-by-it' look," he teased.

"I don't have that look!" she yelped.

"Noooo, not you, Ahn." He lifted her slightly so he could kiss her cheek. "Besides, it's good practice," he said a moment later and then winked at her.

"Practice for what?" she asked suspiciously, raising an eyebrow.

He shrugged innocently. "Nothing," he said sweetly, and she knew he was lying. But she didn't press the matter even though she suspected he was plotting something, and he continued, "Come on. Let's go tell my mom the news."


	8. Dominoes Falling

**Author's Note: I'm sorry if this chapter sounds really stupid...It's a lot harder writing from a bad guy's point of view than it is from a good guy's. I'm trying to get a feel for it without coming off like your stereotypical Bond villain, and you poor souls are the ones I have to experiment on! **

* * *

The sorcerer, Quan Chi, slowly sat in the Grandmaster's old throne as his mewling slave, Sareena, looked on with arms crossed. Up until recently, the old Lin Kuei temple had bustled with the activity of assassins and slaves alike, but now it had been abandoned after that traitor, Sub-Zero, had seized control. His newly acquired minions had ransacked the place and taken everything of value, leaving only the furniture behind. Beside Sareena stood Sektor and Smoke, two cyber-ninjas now fugitives from the new Lin Kuei under Sub-Zero's command. Old allies from Shao Kahn's invasion, Oniro's son as well as his re-programmed associate sought the help of the ancient sorcerer, and Quan Chi had been happy to oblige. Sektor's slaying of Oniro had been nearly as unexpected as the Cryomancer becoming the new Grandmaster, but Quan Chi was certain both turn of events could work in his favor. And the woman he now sensed sneaking into the temple would help see to that.

"She's coming," he declared.

"My Lord, are you sure this is a good idea?" Sareena replied. "That girl is out of her mind."

"Clearly."

"So is it wise to rely on her? Your whole plan hinges on her doing what she's told, but she's unpredictable at best."

"She will do exactly what I wish," he declared.

"You're pretty sure of yourself."

"You can always count on the unpredictable to be predictable," he said cryptically.

The demoness looked at him blankly, but he ignored her stupid expression. Instead, he sat on Oniro's ornate wooden throne in silence, enjoying the sense of power it afforded him. Not long ago he'd been a supreme governor in the Netherrealm, second only to the Elder God Shinnok, but since his glorious creation, Scorpion, discovered the truth about the Shirai Ryu's extermination, he'd been on the run. Quan Chi had underestimated the strength and rage of the undead ninja, and fled from his wrath through all nine levels of Hell before finally escaping, but not before he made a discovery that greatly tipped the playing field in his favor. So now, it felt appropriate to sit upon a throne once again.

In minutes he heard her. The woman – well, at the tender age of twenty-four, she was more like a child in the immortal sorcerer's eyes – made no sound as she walked, but he sensed her soul pulsing loudly as a drum as she drew closer. It had once burned like the bluest star, but Quan Chi had personally seen to its abrupt shift to the black stain that now corrupted it. Her family's death years ago set her teetering on the edge, and as it had with Scorpion, it only took the slightest nudge to shove her into the precipice. The sorcerer had such high hopes for his newest creation. Unlike the Japanese ninja, who somehow retained a moral code in spite of his damnation, this girl, Miyuki, had completely vanquished her own conscience, entombing it in a solid block of ice in her heart. And now, Quan Chi was quite fond of her.

As expected, she quickly appeared in the main archway. She wore a tight, form-fitting warrior's uniform as well as knee-high tabi boots made from rubber, plain black, with no identifying insignia anywhere on her body. Her downy hair, clean of the gore from her killing spree a few weeks ago, streamed over her shoulders in slight disarray. She scanned the Great Hall, and grinned wickedly when her eyes rested on the sorcerer for the first time.

"There you are," she hissed ecstatically as she dropped her chin nearly to her chest. Her eyes flashed black. She stalked towards the throne like a predator on the hunt, confusing him with her real prey.

"We are not the ones you seek, Miyuki. The Lin Kuei are gone," Quan Chi said knowingly as he leaned forward in his throne. "You will not find them here."

"Then I suppose I'll just have to kill you instead," she replied as daggers made from ice sprang from either of her hands.

"Get back!" Sareena yelled at her as she stood defensively between Miyuki and him. Two tiny throwing knives were in either of her palms as well. Sektor and Smoke both poised to attack as well.

"Sareena, Sektor, Smoke, stand down," Quan Chi ordered as he waved a hand at them. "You're being rude towards our guest." His minion snarled unhappily, but promptly obeyed and took a spot beside his temporary throne as the cyber-ninjas relaxed their postures. The young woman started laughing at them.

"Good doggies," she said. "Maybe your master will give you a treat later."

"I'll show you a treat," Sareena hissed, her knives at the ready once more.

"Please," Miyuki scoffed. With that, she launched her daggers at the demoness while Quan Chi watched the exchange with amusement. Sareena yelped as both weapons caught her in the abdomen and flung her backwards onto the hardwood floor with a thud, sending the _kunoichi_ warrior into a manic fit of laughter. "Please tell me you only kept her around for her looks," she said to him when her giggles subsided.

"Sareena is my best warrior," the sorcerer told her.

The woman raised an eyebrow. "If you say so," she smirked.

"Let's talk," he said.

"Talk? I don't really feel like talking," she snarled.

"Then listen," he ordered firmly. "I am Quan Chi. Perhaps you have heard of me?" He smiled at her evilly. He knew she had. Her now dead Grandmaster, Shinji, taught her the names of every entity in every realm. She knew exactly who he was. Miyuki crossed her arms and looked at him expectantly, but said nothing, so he continued. "I can help you exact your revenge on the Lin Kuei."

"I don't need or want your help." Her voice was even and calm, but veiled in dangerous undertones. The sorcerer saw the bloodlust for him racing in her heart regardless.

"Even if I can help you get what you want? Even if I could help you exact your revenge on the clan and family who killed yours?"

"You're boring me," she snapped, though he sensed a slight twinge of pain at the mention of her loved ones. He saw memories of her mother, brother, and sister flash through her mind.

"The Lin Kuei has recently undergone a regime change," he declared. "They have a new Grandmaster, and as we speak he is organizing a tournament to recruit new warriors. The victors shall be welcomed into the clan with open arms. I would like you to attend this tournament and win."

A dark scowl crossed her youthful face. "A tournament?" she repeated. "I _cannot_ believe you are disturbing me for _this_." Her insolence was becoming a trifle annoying.

Quan Chi was not surprised when a blur of pale skin and dark leather suddenly soared past him after Sareena furiously leapt off a table to tackle Miyuki. The _kunoichi_ immediately saw the sloppy attack and patiently back-flipped to avoid her a moment before the demoness touched her body. The sorcerer's face remained a mask, but inwardly he scowled at his slave for her careless, ill-prepared assault. He would punish her later. Sektor stepped towards the women, but the immortal held up his hand to stop them.

"Leave them be," he stated. The red cyber-ninja immediately stood down.

With an eerily calm smile, Miyuki promptly jump-kicked Sareena directly in the face in retaliation and giggled as the demoness' body slammed into the wall behind the throne. Quan Chi's slave bounced forward, and the _kunoichi_ warrior wasted no time scurrying halfway up the wall, propelling off it, and then kicking her opponent in the face once again. With a pained groan, Sareena stumbled backwards and inadvertently flopped onto the table she leapt from only moments before. Quickly, she rolled off, but relentless Miyuki was already there. She stabbed through the air with an ice dagger.

The demoness dodged to the side so the _kunoichi_ swung her other blade at her head. This time, Sareena caught her wrist and slammed it into the table with a loud crack. The weapon shattered, spraying chunks of ice through the air. Undaunted, Miyuki sliced through the air with her second dagger, but Quan Chi's slave blocked it again. She grunted in frustration, then snatched a handful of Sareena's sleek hair and violently yanked it back. His minion howled as she let out a satisfied giggle and then kneed her in the gut with a ferocious grunt.

As expected, Sareena doubled over, throwing her hands outward as if trying to achieve flight. Miyuki capitalized on this awkward posture by grabbing her arm and using it to spin her over her shoulder, slamming her hard onto the table. The slave groaned, barely deflecting the ice dagger careening towards her face. It shattered like the first had when it smashed into the wood, giving her time to roll off the table and get back on her feet. The demoness immediately brought her leg down onto the _kunoichi's_ arm, then roundhouse-kicked her in the face, knocking her over.

Miyuki was only momentarily stunned, however, and snapped her foot as hard as she could into Sareena's gut when the slave stalked towards her. Then she flipped onto her feet, gracefully stepping into a powerful side-kick that sent her opponent onto her back and sliding across the smooth floor with a startled cry. With an amused grin, the _kunoichi_ marched towards her and aimed her own round-house kick at her face, but the demoness caught her leg with both arms and threw her enemy to the ground. Quan Chi thinly grinned as his slave jumped on Miyuki with her elbow trained on her throat, only to have the _kunoichi_ warrior roll away a split-second before she landed. Sareena crashed into the floor, elbow-first, and cried out in obvious pain.

_Good_, the sorcerer thought to himself. _That will teach her the price of her stupidity_.

Now Miyuki was on top of her, choking her. Ice flowed from her delicate fingers, the first traces of frost forming on the demoness' white skin, before Quan Chi decided to intervene. Calmly, he stood and stretched his right hand pulsing with his own dark power towards her. His glove glowed green with raw energy fueled by the souls of the damned, and he lobbed it directly at the woman. A barrage of ghastly skulls wailed as they raced towards her, catching her with their skeletal faces and carrying her into the wall on the opposite side of the room with a startled yelp. She smashed against it like an egg cracking, and then sank to the floor with a groan of pain.

"Enough," he barked. He watched dispassionately as both women slowly pushed themselves to their feet. He enjoyed the nearly bewildered expression on Miyuki's face. She was not accustomed to being manhandled like that. It had to be done, and he felt no regret. Even a prize horse must first be broken before it can reach its true potential.

"Master, I-" Sareena began as she staggered towards him, but he promptly backhanded her in disgust. With a wounded cry, she collapsed to the floor once again.

"That's kind of a turn-on, you hitting a girl," Miyuki smirked as she staggered towards him with new ice daggers clearly meant for him in her hands, but he held up his hand once again and compelled her to stop.

"If you like, I'll hit you all day long," he chided.

"I'm going to enjoy killing you," she snarled defiantly as she struggled to break free.

"That's good, Miyuki," he replied, unfazed. "Keep that fire inside you alive. You'll need it if you are to succeed in the tasks I set forth for you."

"I'm not your lap dog," she hissed as she grunted to get free.

"No, but you are my little bitch," he said as he went to her paralyzed form and stroked her cheek. "I can make you do anything I want," he boasted. "However, I want there to be trust between us. So I will not make you participate in this tournament. But aren't you just the least bit curious as to who the Grandmaster is now?"

"Should I be?" More grunting and squirming.

"You tell me," he retorted. "He is called Sub-Zero, but his given name is Kuai Liang. Kuai Liang, Miyuki. The son of An Zhi."

Black fire exploded in the woman's dead blue eyes, and a dark shadow crossed her face. She knew, as well as Quan Chi did in fact, that the long dead Cryomancer was the man who led the attack on her family's home when she was a child. He himself formed walls of ice across all the exits to trap the family inside, and then he tossed the first torch into Grandmaster _minka_ house, setting the large building ablaze. Shinji's wife, son, and younger daughter all burned to death while he and his men watched in amusement from a nearby hilltop. It had been such a perfect turn of events that Quan Chi himself couldn't have planned it any better, and he knew that the moment he mentioned An Zhi, Miyuki belonged completely to him.

Immediately, she stopped struggling. "I'm listening," she growled lowly, her eyes hardened with resolve. When he sensed her stomach knot up in an anxiousness to make An Zhi's son suffer, he released his mystical grip over her.

"First, I want you to accompany me and my companions to the Netherrealm. There's someone I'd like you to meet," he said.

"Is this someone relevant to my interests?" she demanded to know.

"I think you'll find you have much in common, namely your hatred for An Zhi and his family."

She narrowed her eyes. "Very well," she said after a long moment.

"And then I want you to infiltrate the Lin Kuei," he told her. "Go to Sub-Zero's tournament. Win it. Become one of them."

"Sub-Zero will not accept her," Sektor announced as he stepped towards Quan Chi and Miyuki.

"And why ever not?" she asked, casting him a pouty expression full of derision. "I'm adorable."

"It is Lin Kuei tradition," he said matter-of-factly. "Women are nothing more than weak, pathetic chattel, and therefore unworthy of the honor. That is how it should be, and Sub-Zero knows it as well as I. So he will not accept you."

Miyuki scowled. "I could kill you in an instant!" she snapped as she held up her ice daggers. "Then we'll see who's chattel and who's worthy."

Quan Chi rested a hand on her arm and jerked it down. "I think, Sektor, that your nemesis will have a change of heart where women are concerned. No doubt because of his devotion to that obnoxious woman."

"He is weak," Sektor snarled in his digital voice.

"Regardless, I trust he will take Miyuki in. His curiosity about her powers alone will prompt him to accept her without question," the sorcerer countered. He gripped the young woman's chin with his fingers and lifted her face to see into her eyes. He saw exactly what he wanted: rage towards the Cryomancer. "Be sure to use your gifts in front of him," he told her. "It will be critical."

"With pleasure," she sneered.

"And remember that you are pretending to fight for the forces of good. So you have to be on your very best behavior, Miyuki. That means no more killing sprees."

She pouted. "But a girl's gotta have some fun!"

"In time," he said, amused by her bloodlust. "In time. But right now, you need to be a good girl."

"Oh, fine," she grumbled.

"She will need a code-name," Smoke announced. "Sub-Zero will expect it of her."

Quan Chi looked from the gray cyber-ninja to the woman. "Yes," he agreed, stroking her cheek. Daggers flashed in her eyes, but she did not blink at the gesture. "You are as cold and as bitter as frost in the winter. Frost." He trailed off. It was perfect. "From this day forward, you shall be known as Frost."

"Frost?" she repeated, a devilish smile crossing her lips. "I like the sound of that. Oh, yes, I do."

She giggled, softly at first but quickly cackling like a hyena. Quan Chi laughed with her. The unpredictable had once again proved predictable. He almost pitied Sub-Zero for the havoc he was about to wreak on the Cryomancer's life and for the monster he was unleashing on the new Lin Kuei. But then, he got over it, and laughed even harder.


	9. Portent

**Author's Note: I just wanted to let you all know that the inspiration for Judecca came from Dante's _Inferno_ (the book, not the video game) for the place of the same name. It is located in the 4th Round of the 9th Circle of Hell, according to Dante's view of things, and is where the treacherous against their masters are condemned to spend eternity. **

* * *

Smoke walked in silence according to his programming, his sensors recording all the data generated by this unfamiliar dimension: Netherrealm. On his digital retina scanners, he noted the extraordinary temperature, which fluctuated between 110 and 120 degrees Fahrenheit, and his audio receptors recorded every pitch of the distant screams, whether they could be heard by human ears or not. His processors frantically kept posting his memory logs on his internal screens when his brain insisted he'd been here before, protesting the thought. The logs clearly showed he had _never_ been to Netherrealm. In bright red lettering before his eyes, he saw the words "WARNING: MALFUNCTION." He did not understand what that meant, only that he was certain his processors were wrong. He _had _been here before.

As he followed Sektor, his new Grandmaster, as well as the sorcerer Quan Chi, the demoness Sareena, and the _kunoichi_ Frost, a thought occurred to Smoke. It was distant and fleeting, like a sector of bad data in his processors. He saw a small child, an orphaned boy of perhaps three or four judging by his stature and approximate weight, snatched by a man with Japanese features from a dumpster. The man covered the boy's mouth with a cloth soaked in a foul-smelling chemical – chloroform, Smoke knew – before shoving him into the trunk of a tiny car. When the child awoke, he was tied to a stone altar in a candlelit, windowless room. Ten Japanese men dressed in black robes surrounded him, and as one unit they slipped on bizarre masks painted in swirling wisps of black, gray, and white. Smoke, somehow through the boy's eyes, saw the most ornately dressed of the men leading the others in unfamiliar chants and songs to bless a large, silver knife with onyx stones embedded in the hilt. When the blessing was finished, the man unwaveringly drove the weapon into the child's heart and killed him.

Before the cyber-ninja could follow this strange thought where it would go, his Slaving Protocols blared red with the words "ACCESS DENIED: NOT AUTHORIZED TO VIEW THIS DATA." They automatically switched his brain functions to his back-up systems, and began a diagnostic of his processors. The back-up systems, in response, erased the vision from his mind, and refocused his sensors on the event at hand. The thought was gone just as soon as it appeared, with him having no memory of ever having it.

Quan Chi led his guests through several gates, further into the bowels of the dimension, and suddenly the atmosphere changed. Smoke's sensors now registered temperatures between zero and ten degrees Fahrenheit. He noticed the cloud of condensation wafting from Frost's mouth as she walked along, a product of the hot air from her lungs meeting the cold air in this region of Netherrealm. She seemed amused by the damned souls imprisoned to their necks in sheets of ice, and laughed and pointed at a few as she passed. Smoke had never met the _kunoichi _warrior before, but a nagging familiarity towards her welled inside him before promptly being crushed by his Slaving Protocols.

Eventually, they passed through another gate, this one made of solid ice, and the temperature dropped even further. His circuitry grew sluggish, his processing times slow, and even Frost, a master over the cold, appeared uncomfortable. Her eyes drooped, and she rubbed and blew on her hands repeatedly to warm them.

"What is this place, Quan Chi?" she asked. Smoke's auditory sensors identified an underlying, threatening tone in her voice. Had she spoke to him in that way, his processors would have commanded him to attack her.

"It's a prison," he answered, unfazed by her haughtiness. "It's called Judecca."

"A prison for whom?"

"This is where the treacherous against their lords are sent," he said, casting a wary look in her direction. Smoke's internal servers identified a veiled threat in his words.

"And what is that to me?" she hissed.

The sorcerer chuckled. "Do you see those vast oceans of ice, Frost?" He pointed to either side of the snow-packed path they all walked. "That is where I keep those who betray me. I'm sure I don't need to tell you this, but ice and cold have a way of subduing the most unruly of prisoners."

"Indeed," she snickered.

"The person I want to introduce you to is imprisoned here."

"And who is this person, exactly?"

Quan Chi grinned wickedly. "You'll see."

Within minutes, the sorcerer held up his hand to halt his followers. While Smoke and Sektor lined up with Frost, Sareena watched from the other side with arms crossed. Every now and then, the cyber-ninja caught sight of her glaring at the _kunoichi._ But at the moment, she was mesmerized by the green aura swirling around her master's right hand. In the distance, the sheet of ice glowed with the same emerald energy, and Smoke's auditory sensors registered the groaning, crackling noise of thick sheets of ice snapping. When Quan Chi's magic finally punched a hole through, an explosion of black mingled with green energy burst through, and was followed by a dark figure floating upward. The sorcerer whipped his other hand forward, and this time a vermillion cord appeared from thin air, tethering him to the creature gradually drifting towards him. The ethereal chain wrapped around the dark figure's torso, almost as if Quan Chi had roped a cow.

As the figure floated closer, Smoke's sensors recognized the demon wraith, Noob Saibot. When the slave's body reached his master's, his closed eyes sprang open, flashing ghastly white with his dead cataracts. He immediately struggled against his bonds, shaking droplets of melted ice and tiny crystals from his black warrior's uniform. Quan Chi watched, amused, and Frost snickered as the damned creature grunted in frustration. But, quickly realizing his efforts were useless, he stopped wiggling and relaxed as he floated.

"Quan Chi!" he yelled.

"I see that your year in Judecca has done little to improve your attitude," the sorcerer replied.

What Smoke could only surmise was surprise flashed through the wraith's eyes. "A year?" he repeated slowly. "It's only been a year?"

"Indeed," he replied. "Time passes more slowly here in Netherrealm, as Sareena can attest." He looked at his minion, and she nodded obediently. Then she looked up at Noob with a serene expression on her face. Smoke's processor's listed potential reasons for that almost adoring stare, but he ignored them all. They were irrelevant.

"What do you want?"

"Such a refreshing characteristic," Quan Chi stated. "You're always so direct. Not many of my slaves dare to be so brash towards me." He looked from the wraith to Frost. "It's a characteristic you'll find you share with my guest. Noob, I'd like you to meet Frost."

"I don't have time for this, Quan Chi," she hissed. "Why should I remotely care about one of your little playthings?"

A knowing grin crossed his face. "Noob," he began, "tell young Frost who you served when you still walked amongst the living." To prompt his stubborn minion, he flexed his left fist so that the mystical red rope squeezed him to the point of pain. It compelled him to answer.

"The Lin Kuei," he grunted.

"And who brought you to the Lin Kuei?"

"My father."

"What was his name again?"

Noob glared at Quan Chi. "An Zhi," he answered. "My father's name was An Zhi. And my name was Bi-han."

Just as she had at the abandoned Lin Kuei temple, Frost smiled wickedly. "Now _that's_ interesting," she said.

But Smoke had a different view. His logs agreed that he knew Bi-han, but his knowledge of the man went beyond his processors. As his inner screens screamed "WARNING: MALFUNCTION" at him, he vaguely remembered him. His brain distantly recalled the day he first met Bi-han, which was precisely twenty-one years, five months, two days, and twelve hours prior.

He had been running through the streets of Prague, having just left a bakery where a woman named Ilsa fed him pastries out of pity, when two men wearing gray warriors' uniforms captured him. His name had been different back then. It was not Smoke, but Tomas, after St. Thomas Aquinas according to his mother. It was just him and her, with his father completely out of the picture, and when she died of cancer the boy had nowhere to go. He squatted in their tiny apartment for as long as possible until the landlord ruthlessly kicked him out, physically throwing him into the gutter. She died when he was roughly four, and the Lin Kuei seekers found him when he was seven. The three years in between were a surreal blur of orange and black.

Smoke was taken to the temple in Tibet where he was promptly thrown into a martial arts training class. He spoke very little English back then, so the other boys wanted nothing to do with him. They regarded him as a freak, and as such pointed and laughed at him, calling him names he didn't understand. Their leader, Jiao-long, now known as Sektor, cruelly pushed the scrawny Czech boy into the wall and fixed to punch him in the head until Bi-han appeared and barked words at him that convinced him to break off his attack. When Jiao-long released him, his savior came to his aid and asked him questions so fast that Tomas couldn't discern any words. Bi-han had sighed at him then, uttered more words, and then said "Kuai Liang."

Smoke's processor's recalled the person who belonged to that name. A twinge of pain filled his chest when he remembered the word _pr̆ítel_, friend, and associated it with the man who overturned the Lin Kuei. Kuai Liang was the only boy in the temple who made a real, concerted effort to communicate with him, and he eventually taught him fluent English. When Bi-han spoke his name for the first time, the words meant nothing to Tomas. But now, for a brief moment, he remembered how the words meant everything to him because Kuai Liang was the best friend he'd ever known. A brother. _His_ brother.

And Bi-han had been like an older brother to him as well. When Sektor ruthlessly snapped Tomas' femur in that very first class, it had been the older Cryomancer who'd carried the sobbing child to the healers. He stayed with him the whole time, and even held the seven-year-old boy's hand as they set the bone into place, never once making fun of him for crying like a girl at the pain.

So now, when Smoke saw Noob Saibot on Quan Chi's leash, he felt the slightest hint of grief over his old friend's fate. But then, his Slaving Protocols kicked in once more as they blared an "ACCESS DENIED" message, redirected his attention, and wiped the memories from his mind. A new message popped up on his screen beneath the "WARNING: MALFUNCTION" notice. This one read "REPORT FOR MAINTENANCE: MEMORY WIPE NECESSARY."

This time, however, a familiar little voice, distant and far away, screamed at him: _Don't let anyone wipe your memory_! Inside his helmet, he blinked as alarms beeped at him. It was an intriguing notion, one he decided to obey. He did not know why.

"Please tell Frost why I condemned you to Judecca," Quan Chi prompted, making the rope squeeze Noob Saibot harder. Smoke shook his head slightly. He thought more time had passed, but when he accessed his internal chronometer, only a microsecond had elapsed.

The wraith grunted. "Because I betrayed you," he answered.

"Obviously," Frost sneered. "That's why you're here. Surely you can do better than that."

"Indeed," the sorcerer added. "Tell her everything."

And so Noob did, relaying how during Shao Kahn's invasion the prior year, he felt compelled to help the younger Sub-Zero one last time by saving his life. When Quan Chi dismissed him and Sareena to hunt for other Earthrealm warriors, he snuck back to Netherrealm instead and retrieved Scorpion, a pawn in the sorcerer's game. When his fellow demon heard the sorcerer confess how he'd slaughtered the Shirai Ryu and personally slew his wife and son, he went mad with grief and attacked. This gave the younger Sub-Zero time to escape his fate. But he was gravely wounded by Sareena, and about to be sacrificed by her to the soulnado, so Noob intervened and saved him.

Smoke listened to this tale in fascination, remembering his own confrontation with the fugitive warrior during the invasion last year. Kuai Liang's behavior somehow seemed different than he was familiar with. Independent. Compassionate. His new attitude seemed to have given him strength.

"You're a sentimental fool," Frost chided Noob in a sing-song voice. "Too afraid to kill your baby brother." Noob swung his legs at her with a ferocious grunt, but she stepped back calmly and lowly giggled at him. "Ooooohhh…." she teased. "I can see it in your eyes. You'd like to kill me. Wish you could."

"Play nice, children," Quan Chi admonished. "You're now partners."

"I won't work with her," the wraith snapped. "You can bury me in the darkest corner of Judecca or worse, and I still won't work with her!"

The sorcerer started to speak, but Frost held up her hand and stepped towards her newest ally. "I can see your entire story in your eyes," she smirked. "Daddy kidnapped you, stole you from your mommy, and he took you to a faraway land where you were charged with raising little brother. You took beating after beating for him, and you just got so used to it that you forgot that it was never your job to begin with. You say that you don't want to work with me, but the Lin Kuei screwed me over just as much as they screwed you. I can't tell you how much we have in common that way."

"What's your point?" he hissed.

"My point is that the only way we win is together." She smiled knowingly at him, the cockiness never leaving her face.

Noob looked at Quan Chi. "What is it you want us to do?" he asked.

The sorcerer sneered. "I have recently been fortunate enough to discover in Outworld the sarcophagus of the Dragon King, and I have discerned a way to resurrect his legendary army. The details of that are not important. However, I have formed an alliance with the sorcerer, Shang Tsung, and I have promised to animate that army with the souls of the deadliest warriors in all the realms, starting with those from Earthrealm. I want you two, along with Smoke, to destroy them all."

"There is a problem with your plan, Quan Chi," Sektor declared. "Experience has repeatedly shown that the Earthrealm warriors are not easily defeated."

"Indeed," he agreed. "Shang Tsung and I will take care of Liu Kang. But I trust you three can handle the rest."

"Oh, I'm looking forward to it," Frost said, a glint of mirth in her dark blue eyes.

"You are not hearing me, Sorcerer," Sektor said. "These warriors will not be beaten by brute force alone."

"You are absolutely right, my automated friend," he replied. "These three will first break their spirits before they attempt to break their bodies."

"Meaning?" Frost wanted to know.

"I want you to kill their families and friends. All of them."

Frost started cackling hysterically, and Sektor was placated by the words, but Smoke felt faint pangs of disgust well up in his gut. He understood that Quan Chi meant to wage psychological warfare against his enemies in order to break their will to live. In that way, they would lose their determination to fight the forces of evil in the universe, and therefore would be much easier to conquer. The cyber-ninja momentarily felt appalled by this plan to attack the innocent, but his Slaving Protocols immediately overrode that impulse and numbed him to any feelings of remorse.

"Noob Saibot, will you do as I tell you?" Quan Chi asked. "Or should I bury you in the ice again?" The dark wraith contemplated his decision.

"Come on, tall, dark, and gruesome," Frost pressured, "it'll be _fun_."

"Very well," he agreed. "Let me down."

"Not so fast," the sorcerer replied. "There's something I require of you first."

With that, he held his hand towards Noob's heart while chanting strange words in an unfamiliar language, and he was unmoved when his slave suddenly writhed in agony. A wispy stream of black energy drifted from the groaning demon's chest and swirled around his hand. Then, without warning, Quan Chi twisted towards Smoke and projected the torrent of dark power at him.

The black cloud encircled him and plunged into him all at once, immediately causing warning lights to glare through his internal screens. He grunted as it soaked through his outer casings, wormed its way through his circuitry, burrowed through his physical skin, and coiled inside his heart. He howled in his digital voice as this new energy overloaded his servers and processors, and the shrill shriek of alarms in his ears deafened him. But his pain quickly passed, and he righted himself. Now, Smoke was acutely aware of another presence inside of him, _Noob's_ presence, his black essence tainting him.

"What did you do to me?" the wraith asked.

"Call it insurance that you won't be tempted to betray me again," the sorcerer explained. "I bonded your soul to his. You see, your former friend's computer technology has erased his free will, and therefore he can only do what his programming instructs. It is physically impossible for him to disobey orders. The point of me telling you this, Noob, is that he will know immediately if you intend to defect, and he is ordered to turn you in if he senses so much as a shred of rebellion in you."

Smoke, slightly dizzy from the transference of power, staggered slightly as his warning lights started to switch off, prompting Frost to laugh once again. "Looks like someone can't handle their demon-spawn," she mocked.

_Oh, my God, _the cyber-ninja heard someone, not Noob, speak with derision. _What happened in your life that made you so needy that you have to fill every waking second of your life chattering on like a Capuchin monkey_? Though his helmet hid his expression, Smoke frowned. He did not understand where that voice came from. He gazed at the wraith, who narrowed his eyes returning his stare. Had he heard it too? It seemed much more familiar than that, and more personal. His processors revealed no answers.

"Now go," Quan Chi ordered them as he magically produced a portal swirling with green energy. "Frost, you have a mission to complete. And then you will all systematically exterminate everyone the Earthrealm warriors ever cared about."

As Smoke followed Frost and Noob through the portal, he noticed the "WARNING: MALFUNCTION" message on his screen, but that strange, faint voice echoed through his ears again, whispering:_ you're not malfunctioning anymore_.


	10. The New Lin Kuei Temple

Two months after claiming the Dragon Medallion and becoming the Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei, Kuai Liang found himself staring through the ornate bay window in his massive master bedchamber as he dressed for the recruiting tournament. Outside he saw nothing but a sea of white snow bathed in twilight. Now autumn, day and night balanced each other equally, but soon, he knew, darkness would envelop Arctika around the clock for months on end. He was curious to experience that phenomenon, but he had heard it sometimes drove people mad, so he hoped his warriors could tolerate it well. Anya too.

_Speaking of which, where was she anyway_? he wondered. She'd never seen him in his warrior's uniform before – even while training the children and teenagers he'd rescued from the old temple, he only wore regular workout clothes because he found them more practical – so she'd been particularly anxious for him to get dressed. But shortly after waking that morning, she mysteriously disappeared without so much as a word as to what she was doing.

Kuai Liang sulked at her absence. Early morning was _their _time. The rest of the day was devoted to his duties as the new Grandmaster, and her duties as the nurse overseeing the two Tibetan healers who'd been slaves to the Lin Kuei. She was also one of two women caring for the abundance of babies in the nursery, the other being Kamala. So during the day, their paths seldom crossed. That is why, when a monkey wrench was thrown into his set routine, at least where Anya was concerned, he grew decidedly grouchy. So today he huffed in growing irritation as he slid his gauntlets and braces over his wrists and fastened them into place.

"Well, look at you," Anya's voice suddenly said behind him. He turned and saw her standing just inside their doorway wearing a knee-length black _qipao _with a silver and blue dragon embroidered on the front, and tall, black boots up to her knees. She had swept her hair into a messy bun tucked just behind her left ear and accessorized with two black chopsticks. Her favorite golden studs sparkled from her earlobes. A carnal urge to throw her on the bed right then filled his groin. He quickly stifled it, however, because there was no time for such escapades now.

But as she walked towards him, gently swaying her hips as she balanced in her high heeled boots, his willpower progressively weakened. "You look beautiful," he praised her with all sincerity. "I want to take you right here and now."

Anya smiled and threaded her soft fingers between his. "I know, but there's no time," she teased. She stepped back, still holding his hands, and eyed him up and down. "So this is what you wear into battle?"

"Yeah, why?" he asked a bit self-consciously.

Amused, she released his hands and stepped around him, examining every facet of his body. She traced her finger along his exposed biceps and triceps, sending pleasant shivers through his skin, and felt the fabric of his blue tunic and black undershirt as she stood behind him. Suddenly, one of her chopsticks fell to the ground, bounced a short distance, and rolled to a stop directly in front of him.

"Oops! Will you get that for me?" she asked. He heard the devious grin in her voice, but he unwittingly obliged. He reached down to grab it for her and he heard her suck in her breath and sigh. "Very nice!" she complimented.

With a frown, he looked back at her, unsure of what she was referring to. He saw her grinning mischievously while staring at his backside. When she saw that she'd been caught, she giggled and shrugged. Kuai Liang stood up and handed her the chopstick, now also grinning. The woman was ornery to a fault.

"That was very sneaky of you," he mock admonished.

Anya patted his behind. "Hey, I can't help admiring a work of art," she said, wrapping her arms around him. She stood on her tiptoes to kiss him.

"Do you think I look alright?" he asked her a moment later. "I have to make a good impression on these fighters or they won't take me seriously."

"I think you look hot," she smirked. "Then again, I'm pretty biased here. I _do _love a man in uniform."

"'Hot' isn't exactly what I was going for," he replied.

"Regardless, you are. You should wear your mask though. It'll make you look more mysterious and intimidating, I think, especially to these young pups who've never met you."

Then she stood on her tiptoes again, kissing him once more, but this one wasn't a simple peck. She draped her arms around his neck and gently nibbled on his lips before thrusting her tongue into his mouth. She immediately took his breath away, and he panted as he wrapped his arms around the small of her back, lifting her up and pushing her against the Chinese mahogany cabinet behind them. He leaned into her as he kissed her back, his excitement rising as she curled one of her long legs around his back as if to invite him in. Just as he touched her silky skin and ran his hand beneath her dress, he heard a throat clearing and a digital voice say, "Excuse me, Grandmaster."

In frustration, Kuai Liang pushed himself away from Anya and whirled around to see Cyrax standing at attention by the main door. "What is it?" he asked curtly, trying to catch his breath.

"It is time to begin," the cyber-ninja, now his second-in-command, announced. "The combatants are waiting for you."

"I'm coming," he replied in annoyance, grabbing his mask and cowl from his bed where he laid them earlier.

Because Cyrax was still watching, Anya leaned over and whispered directly in his ear, "One more thing." The ornery grin had returned.

"What's that?" he whispered back.

"I'm going commando." She snickered as he raised an eyebrow. She had taught him several months ago what that particular colloquialism meant, and the raging fire in his groin worsened when he thought of her walking around in that form-fitting dress with nothing on beneath it.

"That's not nice," Kuai Liang told her.

"Then I guess you're just gonna have to teach me a lesson in manners later," she teased as she kissed his cheek and stood up straight.

"Don't tempt me," he said as he slid on his cowl and mask. Then he led her out of their bedchamber.

As they passed the cyber-ninja, he heard Anya say, "Don't worry, Cyrax. It's wayyyyy more fun than it looks." The Cryomancer looked back at them in time to see her wink at his stunned fighter. Then she glanced forward once more, saw him staring at her in disbelief, and laughed. "What?"

"Nothing," he observed, amused, as she walked beside him. Cyrax followed in silence.

She had been in a remarkably good mood since the moment she first set foot in the new temple. Himavat whisked them here through a portal, and although she wasn't fond of that part of the journey – he couldn't blame her because the first time he'd walked through a portal he felt impossibly drunk – she was stunned silent at the sight of her new home. It was even bigger than the old temple, and much more modern. But even still, it had an old-world quality to it that made it feel ancient and sacred.

"Oh my God," Anya had muttered in awe, and Kuai Liang felt similarly.

With her by his side, he saw the massive marble pillars and shiny granite floors, toured through several large barracks as well as a nursery for the babies he'd rescued, walked through the state-of-the-art kitchens, and stopped in his new bedchamber. He'd never had such a room in his life. In the old temple, it had been spartan, devoid of any luxuries, including a bed. He'd grown up sleeping on a mat with a blanket made from an old rucksack. Additionally, his room wasn't solely his. He shared it with Bi-han and Tomas. But his new room put that one to shame, with sprawling Persian rugs scattered across the floor around the king-sized bed. A gigantic stone fireplace that roared with orange flames warmed the room. A huge bay window that could open onto its own balcony revealed the vast expanse of snowy wilderness around them.

"What's wrong?" Himavat had asked him when he saw his descendant's jaw drop to the floor.

"Are you sure this is all for me?" he asked in disbelief. The Elder God merely chuckled at that, and clapped him on the back.

They began the arduous moving process shortly thereafter. Jax, whose team of elite engineers had designed portal technology based on Raiden's specifications, installed a portal gateway and the appropriate computer and satellite technology in a large room seemingly designed to accommodate it. The gateway itself was one massive ring made of a copper and aluminum alloy, and was colored almost greenish-gray.

The first time Anya saw the portal she laughed and said, "If it had another ring and a bunch of hieroglyphics, it would look exactly like the Stargate."

Jax snorted at that, smiling in amusement, but Kuai Liang didn't understand. "What's a Stargate?" he'd asked, prompting the Major to laugh once more, and even Anya chuckled a bit at his expense.

She patted his arm. "Someday, I'll have to show you."

After the portal had been installed, moving had been relatively simple. Himavat had already furnished the temple, so there were only small things like foodstuff, computer supplies, and training equipment to contend with. Kuai Liang and the cyber-ninjas dealt with that stuff while Anya, along with Kamala, ushered the children and teenagers through and got them settled into their new home. He had been pleased that the boys, deprived of any real semblance of family since they first arrived in the Lin Kuei, automatically took to her like a mother, and she happily reciprocated.

Now, as they walked towards Everest Hall, the largest training room in the temple and the one Sub-Zero named after the massive mountain, he looked at her. "So where did you run off to this morning?" he asked.

Anya gasped. "Oops, I almost forgot. Got a bit distracted." She glanced at him with a knowing look, and then reached around her neck to undo a necklace he hadn't noticed because it was concealed beneath her collar. In a second, she stopped and revealed a shiny, teardrop shaped black pendant that was smaller than a jellybean set in a copper face. "This is for you," she told him. "Had to run to my dad's house to get it."

"What is it?"

"Shungite." She wrapped the twine cord around his neck and fastened it. "You can only find it in Russia. It's the only stone in the world that has nearly all the natural elements in it, and for that reason, people believe it has healing powers." She smiled as she patted it. "Mamulya gave it to me for my fifteenth birthday, right after she got back from a trip to Moscow."

Kuai Liang automatically reached around to take it off. "I can't accept this," he replied. "Not if your mother gave it to you."

She raised an eyebrow and then clamped down on his hands to stop him. "It's okay. I _want _you to have it. Call it a good luck charm."

"I don't need luck," he replied. "I make my own."

Anya snorted with laughter. "I make my own," she repeated in a mocking voice. "My name is Sub-Zero and I'm a big, tough guy whose eyes should be brown because I'm so full of crap." Behind them, Cyrax chuckled behind his helmet until Kuai Liang gave him an evil look.

Then, he stared at Annalise once again. "Are you done?" he asked sternly.

She snickered. "Not remotely."

"Stop it anyway," he ordered, his feathers a tad ruffled to be teased in front of the cyber-ninja. "I can't have you acting like that in front of everyone at the tournament."

"Aye aye, Captain," she said as she saluted, and then resumed walking. "And you're welcome, by the way."

He looked down at the pendant. "Oh, yeah. Thank you," he told her.

They reached Everest Hall in a few minutes, immediately noting Sonya and Jax standing outside the ceiling-high double-doors. Kuai Liang knew they were going to be there to help him judge the competitors. To show them respect, he held his fist to his heart and bowed slightly, prompting Cyrax to follow suit. Anya, however, put her hands on her hips as her happy expression darkened to a scowl.

"Sonya…I dreamt of you last night," she said evilly. "I can't say for certain, but I was having my skin ripped from my bones by a cross-eyed Arctic seal. That was you, right?"

Sonya's eyes narrowed as she crossed her arms. "So I see the pimp gave you the day off, huh, Anya?"

"Yeah, and he replaced me with your mom," she shot back.

Immediately, Sonya broke into a grin and laughed. "Good one," she replied as the smile returned to Anya's face.

Sub-Zero shook his head and then looked at Jax. "I'll never understand this," he said, and it was true. The two had become decent friends since their first meeting over a year prior, yet both adamantly insisted on greeting each other with the rudest insults they could conjure.

"Me neither," the Major replied. "They can be just as sweet as pie to anyone else, but to each other they're total bitches."

"Why are they even like that?" he wanted to know.

Anya looked at him pointedly. "Why? Because we're sugar and spice, and everything nice. So bite me." Sonya chuckled as the Cryomancer narrowed his eyes in annoyance, and Anya opened the door to let everyone in. Kuai Liang filed through first, followed by Cyrax, Sonya, Jax, and lastly her.

The Hall was packed. On the north side of the room, right up to the roped-off fighting area, the boys stood in perfect rows in front of the cyber-ninjas. Anya and Kamala had made sure all of them looked presentable in their black training robes, ensuring their hair was clean and combed and that their tabi boots were free of dirt. When there were no guests in the temple, he tended to be more laid back about the boys' appearance, worried infinitely more about honing their skillsets and knowledge than how neat their hair was at any given moment. But for today Sub-Zero had specifically demanded perfection from the young warriors; they represented the temple – and by extension him – and he wanted them to appear as professional as possible in front of these strangers.

On the south side of the room, the competitors stood haphazardly, clearly indifferent to any sense of formality, and that annoyed him. His eyes fluttered over them all. He mostly saw men milling around in their various warriors' uniforms, indicating what school of martial arts they'd studied or where in the world they'd come from. But the person who really caught his attention was the only woman in the bunch, a young Caucasian woman with hair as white as Arctic snow cascading just past her shoulders. While the others talked quietly amongst themselves, she stood alone near the back wall with arms crossed and a bored expression on her face. Kuai Liang slightly shook his head; he doubted she'd win the tournament given how dainty she looked next to the taller, more muscular men, but if she wanted to test her luck he'd allow it.

As he and the others marched into the Hall, the room immediately quieted. Pleased, he noted how the boys held their fists to their hearts and bowed to him all at once, looking like a well-oiled machine working together for a change, proving to him that they could indeed work together if they put their minds to it. He bowed back, and then rigidly stood in front of his throne. He hated the idea of having a throne and would've been perfectly happy with a regular chair, but Cyrax had insisted upon it because it was tradition for the Grandmaster to sit exalted above the others, and the other cyber-ninjas agreed, so he'd lost that argument. Now, his second-in-command stood to his left, Anya to his right, and Jax and Sonya beside her, all of them waiting for him to speak to the waiting crowd.

"Welcome," he greeted solemnly, staring at the competitors with the iciest stare he could muster, his voice strangely loud in his ears. "You're all here to participate in a tournament unlike any you've competed in before. I will not be judging you on style or how pretty your form is, and I certainly will not be counting points. You will be fighting each other as if your lives depended on it, and at the end of the day the prize is not money, or a trophy, or even glory. The warrior who wins my competition, the person who is clearly the greatest warrior among you, will be invited to join my clan. But be forewarned. Should you win, your life in the Lin Kuei will be difficult, full of intense training, solitude, and seemingly insurmountable obstacles. If you do not think you can handle my high expectations – and they are high – then you will leave now. If you stay, I will assume you understand what you're getting into, so no indecision on your part will be tolerated by me."

Sub-Zero paused, feeling slightly odd at sounding like such an authority figure. Up until recently, he'd be nothing more than a subordinate, and so it was times like these when being the Grandmaster felt the weirdest to him. Part of him still felt like the student who always managed to get into trouble with Tomas.

"Is there anyone here who wishes to leave?" he demanded to know. To his surprise, no one stepped forward. He waited for a minute to see if anyone changed their mind, but when no one did, he looked at the boys and said, "Sit, _xuéshēng_." His students obeyed, again as one, and they sat on their knees as he'd taught them to do during training demonstrations. Then Kuai Liang nodded at Cyrax before taking his seat. Anya, Jax, and Sonya followed suit, sitting in their smaller wooden thrones beside his. He silently scoffed at himself; they looked more like a royal court from the middle ages than they did a nurse and 21st century soldiers. He really disliked all this pomp, and especially because it was just for one stupid tournament.

The cyber-ninja stepped forward. "These are the rules that you will be expected to follow," he began. "When your name is called, you will enter the ring and fight using full contact force, though you may not use kill-moves against your opponents. You may not leave until someone has won the match or you forfeit. If you forfeit your match, you will be disqualified from the tournament and escorted from the temple. If you lose a match, you will be escorted from the temple. Do you all understand these rules?" Everyone either nodded or said yes in response, and when he was satisfied with their answer, Cyrax bowed to Sub-Zero. "Grandmaster?" he asked, waiting for the Cryomancer's order.

"Begin," he told his lieutenant.

The cyber-ninja faced the competitors once again as he studied the tiny computer screen built into his forearm. "The first fighter is Solomon Teke from Turkey," he announced as a tall man with dark caramel-colored skin stepped forward and climbed through the ring's ropes. "He will be fighting…" Cyrax paused as if he'd encountered a mistake in the data on his screen.

"Cyrax?" he prompted.

"He will be fighting Frost from Japan," the other declared.

Sub-Zero raised an eyebrow as he scanned the crowd to identify this Frost, knowing that had to be a code-name. Cyrax had clearly been startled by the lack of a surname, which was why he'd stumbled over it. But as the cyber-ninja lowered his arm and also looked around, Kuai Liang felt startled himself. The woman with the white hair started walking towards the ring with an arrogant smirk on her face.


	11. The Tournament

**Author's Note: Today's shout-out goes to Haven Rose, who gave me some really funny ideas for things to do with parts of this chapter. Go check out her story, "A Thorn Caught in the Crossfire" to read about an OC inspired by the swamp Waterbenders in "Avatar: The Last Airbender." **

* * *

Frost climbed into the ring after Solomon Teke. Unlike all the other warriors present in the room, she didn't look like she was out to prove anything to anyone. She walked with an air of confidence, as if she knew that she _was_ the best fighter here, even though she was quite literally half everyone else's size. Sub-Zero thought that mildly amusing at the same time he thought it was to be admired; after growing up under Grandmaster Oniro, he knew looks could be deceiving, but he thought there was no way she had a chance of winning. Still, he liked how she didn't seem remotely discouraged or intimidated by the other fighters, who weren't even trying to hide their licentious stares. He watched her closely, intrigued by her, and already secretly rooting for her.

Frost looked at him with piercing blue eyes and a smile, jarring Kuai Liang from his thoughts. Then she formed a fist in front of her heart, laid her other hand on it, and bowed. The Shotokan salute. He hadn't expected this cocky woman to show him any sort of respect whatsoever. Beneath his mask, he smiled, pleased, and nodded to her in acknowledgement. Teke, after seeing Frost's show of respect, bowed rigidly in half like a stereotypical Japanese man even though he was from Turkey, and it irritated the Cryomancer. His show of respect was only an afterthought, and not genuine. Now Sub-Zero _really_ hoped Frost won the match.

"Take your places," Cyrax ordered from his spot beside him.

Immediately, both fighters obeyed. Teke was much taller than Kuai Liang, and even Jax, standing nearly seven feet tall. Next to Frost, who was five-six at best, he looked like a giant. It was like watching David square off with Goliath. But she was still undaunted. She stood in front of him calmly. The Grandmaster's heart pounded in anticipation to see what would happen. Unwittingly, he scooted to the edge of his seat.

"Begin," Cyrax said.

Teke lunged at her right away and caught her by the shoulders, spinning her around as he wrapped his long arms around her throat. The warriors waiting their turn wasted no time chuckling at her expense, but Kuai Liang _almost_ thought it looked like she let herself be caught. But that was silly, he scoffed at himself, and his heart sank as he watched the two struggle a bit. Before she'd even got a chance to show him her skills, she was probably finished.

But suddenly, the expression on Frost's face shifted from concerned frown to amused grin, and she managed to elbow him in the rib with a loud crack. Teke instantly loosened his grip on her with a startled cry, and she used the opportunity to grab his arm to flip him over her shoulder and onto his back. A surprised gasp escaped everyone, including Sub-Zero. The Turkish man had to have at least a hundred pounds on her. Kuai Liang automatically felt foolish at his miscalculation. Though small, the white-haired woman was clearly stronger than he thought, than she looked.

As Teke lay on the ground, wondering how the hell he wound up there, Frost leapt onto his chest with a maniacal roar and punched him. He quickly recovered, however, and gripped her arms before rolling on top of her with a perverted grin.

"You should know better than to play with the men," Teke said to her.

"What men?" she demanded to know. "I only see little boys!"

With that, Frost grabbed his sweaty black hair and yanked a handful out, pulling him off her. Dispassionately, she flung the large clump to the side, winning no respect points from the other warriors for pulling hair. But Sub-Zero understood. They'd been instructed to fight as if their lives were on the line, and in a real fight, there is no honor. A warrior must do anything to win, to survive. He appreciated that Frost heard these instructions and took them to heart.

Teke, however, was not so appreciative. He groaned on the mat momentarily, his scalp bleeding from where she'd torn out his hair, and then punched her across her body in her face. Then, as she yelped from the blow to her jaw, he scrambled to his feet. Wasting no time, she rolled onto all fours and stopped his charge with a mighty kick to the chest that launched him backwards into the rope. Now on her feet as well, Frost scurried to him and drove her clenched fist upward into his chin. In a blur, she whirled around and drove her elbow into his rib, cracking yet another one with her strength and accuracy. Teke doubled over, giving her easy access to his face, which she took full advantage of. Once more, she gracefully spun around and drove her elbow backwards into his jaw.

The Turkish man cried out in obvious pain, but Frost was unyielding like a pit bull. She backhanded him with a ferocious grunt, then started jabbing him in the gut like he was a punching bag to train on. Teke tried to block her assault, but she was relentless. The white-haired woman reached up and grabbed another handful of his hair, yanking him down enough to sufficiently knee him in the face.

With a satisfied laugh, she used his hair to lead him around, building momentum until she finally tossed him into the ropes like he weighed absolutely nothing. He moaned as he slumped, but Frost was on a roll. She leapt into the air and skillfully kicked him in the face, her leg creating a perfectly executed arch as she moved. The moment she landed, she immediately sprang off the mat again and kicked him once more, her form flawless. This blow landed on Teke's ear and brought him to the floor half-unconscious.

As the Turkish warrior sprawled on the floor, gazing up at the ceiling woozily, Frost stood over him haughtily, her hands firmly on her hips. She looked down at him with a devious smile. She slowly knelt onto him until she nearly straddled his torso. With lightning quick reflexes, her hand shot down and clutched his throat in a death grip.

"You lose," she hissed. And then she punched him in the temple with her free hand, knocking Teke completely out. His head snapped back with a dull thud.

Silence settled on the room. Even the Lin Kuei boys, who were never completely quiet, were stunned mute. But Frost didn't seem to notice, let alone care, as she rose completely upright and stepped away from Teke's unconscious form. She faced Sub-Zero, bowed once again, and exited the ring while two cyber-ninjas, Shen and Simon, climbed in to retrieve the loser. She then returned to her corner at the back of the room.

"Well done, Frost," the Cryomancer finally said, and he meant it. Every punch thrown, every kick delivered…her ability was a work of art. Someone with that level of skill had obviously trained under a Master. Maybe even a Grandmaster. And her spirit in combat was something to be admired. He couldn't take his eyes off her. The young woman was full of surprises.

Sub-Zero, deeply intrigued by this fighter, barely noticed Cyrax name the next two competitors. He remained lost in thought until a small hand grabbed his arm. He glanced over to Anya, who was looking at him with a concerned expression. He'd all but forgotten about her.

"What?" he whispered, leaning over.

"That woman was good, wasn't she?" she asked.

"Yes," he answered honestly. "Very good."

"I hope she wins," she said. "I feel bad for her."

"What? Why?"

"The way all the men are treating her. Look at the way they're looking at her. She just kicked the crap out of that Teke guy, and they still don't respect her. It'd serve them all right if they lost to her." Kuai Liang saw what she meant. Some of the fighters still eyed her up and down like a piece of meat.

"That's not how it works though," he explained. "She has to earn her place here."

"I know," she said. "I'm just saying that I'm rooting for her."

"Me too."

The new fight was dull in comparison to Frost's, as were the others that followed it, and Sub-Zero found he couldn't wait to see the young woman perform again. None of these warriors, he noticed with disappointment, were as skilled as she was, nor were they as flawless in their execution. Accuracy like hers could only be the product of incessant drilling. He wondered who she'd studied with in Japan.

Finally, it was her turn to fight again. "Olafemi Kalu from Nigeria will fight Frost from Japan," Cyrax announced.

Kuai Liang glanced over at Anya, who smiled faintly at him and nodded. He nodded back and then returned his attention on the new set of fighters. While taller than Frost, Kalu was not nearly as tall as Teke had been. Still, what he didn't have in height, he made up for in muscles. One of his upper arms alone was thicker around than one of her legs. The Nigerian man was proud of his physique too, stepping into the ring bare-chested to show off his glistening body.

"Hello, pretty," he greeted Frost, taking his spot.

She was grinning still, but Kuai Liang thought he saw a dark shadow of hatred cross her eyes. "Hello, pumpkin," she replied dangerously, taking hers, her eyes fixed on him like a panther's on the hunt.

"Do you want to know what it's like to play with a _real_ man?" he asked.

"Sure," she replied. "Just as soon as you find one, you'll be a dear and let me know, won't you?"

"I'm all the man you can handle."

Sub-Zero rolled his eyes at that, and he heard Anya mutter "Oh, please," to his right. But Frost looked at him with a smirk and said, "Sweetheart, I find it amusing that you think you're so much as a blip on my radar."

"All right," the Grandmaster barked loudly. As entertaining as he found Frost's smart-alec remarks, he had to keep things on schedule. "That's enough. Begin already."

"I'm gonna teach you a lesson you'll never forget!" Kalu yelled as he took his fighting stance.

"You want it? Come and get it!" It was the first trace of anger Sub-Zero had seen in the woman yet.

The Nigerian man promptly swung a meaty fist at her head, but Frost gracefully leaned back and caught his thick wrist in her hand. Unfazed, Kalu swung the other fist at her head, with the same result. Now it was her turn to attack. She giggled and then kicked him in the groin, drilling her slightly pointed tabi boot upward with the same ferocity she'd shown with Teke. All the men in the room, the Cryomancer as well, felt immediate sympathy pains for the fighter, and slightly groaned under their breath in response.

Frost didn't notice them at all, though. She continued to giggle as Kalu staggered back in agony, and then she uppercut him in the chin with a powerful little fist. Blindly, he swung at her in retaliation, but he missed when she easily ducked to the side. Dragged along by his own momentum, it was easy for her to aim a well-executed punch to the central nerve inside his arm and then to his kidney. He howled, but his cries didn't last long because Frost silenced them with an angry blow driven backwards across his cheek.

Now she side-kicked him in the face and watched in amusement as he stumbled to his knees, but didn't seem terribly surprised when he backhanded her in retaliation as she approached his crouching body. Frost fell to the ground with a pained cry, but sprang back up again a moment later with a bloody nose. She smirked as she looked at him, pinching it with both fingers to stop the flow, then wiped the gore from her face with a black wrist brace.

"That one almost hurt," she mocked as her chin dropped to her chest and she sneered at Kalu with her dark blue eyes.

She didn't wait for his response before she leaned onto her leg and spun in a half circle, catching Kalu in the jaw with her other foot. The Nigerian man immediately collapsed to his knees with a grunt. Quickly, though, he recovered and scrambled to his feet again. This time, Frost side-kicked him in the face before she stepped into another turn-kick that knocked him completely to the mat.

The white-haired woman laughed as she stepped towards him and shoved his smooth, black scalp down. She tried to knee him in the face, but his strong hands gripped her thigh and tossed her backwards. By the time she crashed into the mat, Kalu was already on his feet and at her side, and he ruthlessly stomped her in the gut. For the first time since Sub-Zero had seen Frost, she wailed in agony. She folded in half like a sheet of paper, clutching her stomach as she rolled over and onto all fours.

"Kuai Liang, you have to stop them!" Anya whispered frantically beside him. "That could've killed her!"

"Be quiet!" he retorted sharply. He didn't bother to look at her.

But when Kalu did it again, this time driving his boot into her stomach like he was drop-kicking a football, the Cryomancer had to agree. He started to stand as Frost cried out again and Kalu lunged for her, but he stopped himself when she quickly pushed herself onto her palms just enough to sweep her opponent's feet from beneath him.

With a stunned yelp, the Nigerian man landed on the mat with a loud thud. Frost, a little slower than she had been only moments prior, scurried towards him and climbed onto his broad back with a half-scream full of rage. She wrapped her thin arms around his thick throat and squeezed hard. Kalu resisted, clawing at her frantically like a horse trying to bat away an annoying fly. But the more he squirmed, the harder she clamped down until at last, the oxygen deprivation knocked him out. As one, they both collapsed to the ground. Angrily, Frost shoved his head into the mat one last time before she climbed off him.

As she had the previous match, she bowed to Sub-Zero before exiting the ring, though this time he couldn't help but notice she did so with extreme discomfort. Pain lines marred her otherwise flawless face. He knew, having taken many terrible gut-shots in the past, not least of which was the stab wound from Sareena, her stomach was knotted up in agony. Frost said nothing of it though, and waddled slowly back to her corner.

But by the time Cyrax called her forward to fight the Frenchman, Lazare Roche, she had recuperated.

"Surrender now, and I promise to go easy on you," the man said in a thick accent.

Frost rolled her eyes. "Shouldn't I be saying that to you, Frenchy?" she asked. "You know, because you come from a race of people who yield to their enemies like the cowards that they are?"

The blond man narrowed his eyes and promptly started flipping around in amazing arches and corkscrew turns, gracefully extending his legs as if in dance. Sub-Zero immediately recognized capoeira, and although he immensely appreciated the martial art form on a multitude of levels, he did _not _appreciate the way this Lazare Roche showed it off for the crowd. And worse, he hated the way the other warriors bought into his display, clapping and hooting like a bunch of drunken spectators.

Frost, not surprisingly, was neither intimidated nor impressed by the testosterone-fueled peacock-ish demonstration. The Grandmaster felt amused when she stood with her arms crossed, looking immensely bored by Roche's powerful kicks and gravity-defying leaps. He even had to stifle his laughter when he caught sight of her holding up her hand to her face, seemingly engrossed in studying her fingernails. But when Roche flew at her, she retracted her hand, patiently stepped towards his oncoming body, and socked him directly in the nose.

Sub-Zero heard it break before he saw it, though as the Frenchman fell to the floor unconscious, blood spurted everywhere like a bright red geyser. The crowd erupted into a cacophony of stunned gasps, boos, and pained groans. Frost rubbed her nails against her chest as if polishing them on her black tunic.

"Can you say 'nighty-night'?" she asked Roche's unmoving form. "No? Well I guess your English, as well as your capoeira, needs improvement. That was pathetic." And then once again, she stepped from the ring as the victor after bowing to Sub-Zero.

Not surprisingly, Frost had earned her way into the final battle. Her last opponent was a man from New Zealand named Karl Hawkins, and he was an amazing warrior as well. Furthermore, he wasn't like the other men who'd competed today; he was quiet and subdued while waiting to be called, but in the ring he came alive with profound skill and power. Sub-Zero still rooted for Frost to win the tournament, but if Hawkins won, he'd be satisfied with the outcome. If he didn't win, he still might invite the man to stay with Lin Kuei as well.

When Cyrax called their names and they took their spots in the ring, Hawkins smiled at her. "Frost," he said in his deep Kiwi accent, "I was hoping I'd get to see you."

She smiled sweetly at him, though Kuai Liang was certain it wasn't sincere. "Well, here I am, big boy," she replied. "So what should we do now?"

"You're an amazing warrior," Hawkins told her, "but you can't beat me. I'm gonna ground you into dust."

She giggled at that and then grinned wickedly at him, her ornery eyes full of mischief. "Keep sweet-talking me," she replied. "This could go a whole new direction."

"Alright, begin!" Sub-Zero ordered them.

Hawkins immediately produced a knife from his gauntlet and threw it at her. The Grandmaster jumped to his feet immediately, ready to disqualify the New Zealander for trying to touch her with a kill shot, but what happened next startled him silent. As the weapon raced towards Frost's head, she calmly back-flipped and left a solid ice statue of herself where she stood. The knife plunged harmlessly into it while everyone murmured in shock.

_She's a Cryomancer_! he yelled to himself as he exchanged a bewildered look with Cyrax, then Anya. Her name had been a clue, but he had chocked it up to her inexplicably white hair.

Hawkins looked at the effigy in astonishment, forgetting his battle. Frost hadn't forgotten though, and she charged at him before she leapt sideways into the air and kicked his chest repeatedly as if pedaling a bicycle. The New Zealander staggered backwards, but quickly remembered himself when she landed on the ground again. He aimed a roundhouse kick at her head, but she calmly deflected it. Then she snap-kicked him in the chest before punching him in the face with her left fist.

Frost leapt into the air now and swung her leg across his jaw. When she landed, Hawkins retaliated with two punches, first to her chest and then to her cheek, but on the third punch she grabbed his arm and brought her bent elbow into his straight one before she whirled around and drove her joint directly into his chin. Stunned, he didn't stop Frost from grabbing his mousy hair and shoving his head towards her knee. She forced it into his forehead, but not before he threaded his strong arms through her legs. With a strained grunt, Hawkins hoisted her over his shoulder and body-slammed her into the mat.

Now the New Zealander lunged for her, but the white-haired woman lifted her legs over her body and kicked him hard in the stomach, knocking him backwards. While he grasped at his belly and stood, Frost scrambled to her feet in time to duck a high kick aimed at her head. Grunting, she threw a right hook across Hawkins' face before she repeatedly started kicking him in the abdomen and forcing him backwards. Finally, she grew tired of that and punched him again with such power that he fell into the ropes with a pained cry.

His discomfort was short-lived though. He spun backwards and aimed a low kick at her legs, catching her in the shin, and knocking her back now. Then Hawkins snap-kicked to her face two times in a row, then quickly settled into an automated barrage of kicks to the belly, chest, and arms. Frost blocked most of his assault, but one broke through and caught her in the face, followed by one to her chest which easily shoved her into the corner of the ring. When the Kiwi tried to kick her again, however, he missed because the woman scurried up the post and leapt from it like a squirrel before he could react.

"Oh, come on!" she roared at him impatiently.

With that, she bolted up Hawkins' extended knee, making his fighting stance work to her favor as she used it to climb onto his shoulder and kick him in the head as she leapt off his body before he even knew what had happened. He staggered forward. With an agitated grunt, he whirled around to face her, charged at her laughing figure, and aimed a roundhouse kick at her head. But Frost ducked and he missed.

Now she kicked back in response, missing as well when he leaned back, but he wasted no time countering with two more kicks of his own. The first one missed, but he landed the second one, catching her in the cheek with a loud smack. The white-haired woman fell to the ground, but quickly jumped back up in time to stop Hawkins' charge at her with a swift boot to the chest. The New Zealander smirked at her when he caught her leg in his muscular arms. Frost's own smirk changed to an ornery chuckle before she grunted in determination and flipped backwards, getting her leg free and kicking him in the face with it.

The woman whirled around with her fist poised like a boxer's, but Hawkins punched her with a right cross before she could respond. With a startled cry, she fell to the mat. Unyielding, the man was beside her now, kicking her repeatedly in the ribs and gut, clearly exploiting her earlier injury. As Sub-Zero was about to stand to put an end to it, Frost screamed in frustration as she lifted her own leg and kicked Hawkins in the stomach now. He stumbled backwards as she pushed herself to her feet.

Now the New Zealander leaned on a leg and quickly spun around with the other extended, but the white-haired woman caught it with an angry scowl and punched him in the jaw with her free hand. As she had done earlier, Hawkins tried to kick his way out of her hold, but she ducked and his leg harmlessly sailed over her head. He fell onto his back with a loud thud. He kicked at her again, this time connecting with her face and knocking her down as well.

While Frost recovered, Hawkins backed up to get a running start before he charged at her body. She immediately saw what he meant to do, and slammed her open palm into the mat. Instantly, a thick sheen of ice burst from her hand and found its way towards him, causing him to slip and fall the moment his feet met it. He uncontrollably flailed as he flew into the ropes and hit his head on the wooden post. With a pained groan, he slumped to the ground.

The white-haired woman's smirk had returned. She stalked towards him like a predator on the hunt. When she reached him, she lifted him up by his longish hair, dragged him away from the ropes, and threw him through the melting ice clone of herself. It exploded into chunks and shards that rained onto everyone close by, including Sub-Zero and his friends. Hawkins moaned in pain and defeat, but Frost wasn't finished. She produced two ice daggers from her palms, flipped them over so that the dull end of the handle jutted out, and leaned over and hit the back of his skull pitilessly. Hawkins crumpled, unconscious.

"I win," she said to him. "So…I win."

"Congratulations, Frost," Sub-Zero told her as he got to his feet. "Step forward." Then he leaned over to Cyrax and said, "Keep Hawkins too. These two are the only ones worthy enough to be in the Lin Kuei."

"Yes, Grandmaster," he replied. Then he looked at the woman, who now stood before Sub-Zero. "You did not say you were a Cryomancer," Cyrax said to her in an accusatory tone.

She regarded him with a raised eyebrow. "A what?" she demanded to know.

"Haven't you ever heard that term before?" Kuai Liang asked her. "To describe your abilities over ice and snow?"

She sneered. "No, but I did hear the term 'freak' a lot, and tremendous efforts were made trying to keep my abilities hidden from others."

"You cheated," the cyber-ninja accused.

"So did he," she shot back. "Besides, nobody ever said I couldn't use any special gifts I might have. So I was merely exploiting the obvious loophole." She put her hands on her hips and lifted her chin to Cyrax defiantly. Sub-Zero narrowed his eyes. He definitely needed to teach her humility. Her arrogance was going to get the better of her someday.

"You're definitely full of surprises," Anya said warmly to her. "I wonder what else we're going to learn about you as time goes on."

The white-haired woman smirked. "Be careful what you wish for," she warned. "What you don't know about me could fill a book."

"At any rate," Sub-Zero began, trying to keep the conversation on topic, "you fought well. I don't often see people as young as you fight so skillfully. Welcome to the Lin Kuei."

Frost bowed, but Kuai Liang almost thought he saw contempt in her eyes. But when he looked again, it was gone. He must've just been imagining it. When she respectfully said, "Thank you, Grandmaster. I am honored," he knew he really must've been seeing things.


	12. An Axe Falls

Kuai Liang sat with his legs crossed on a mat in the McKinley Room, and with closed eyes he inhaled and exhaled deeply. He inwardly searched for his chi until he found it, and when he felt its pure energy pulse through him like a brilliant light, he honed in on it as if it was a beacon. Soon, he detected less radiant spots – weaker links in the chain created by stress and emotional turmoil – so he mentally worked at clearing the blockages. Quickly, he felt completely tranquil.

And then he heard: "This is stupid."

The Cryomancer opened his eyes. Sitting cross-legged before him, Frost glanced around the training room in boredom. He bristled in annoyance. She had been so respectful towards him at the tournament, but once she'd been formally invited to join the Lin Kuei, her arrogance took over and unleashed her deep-seated rudeness. And it was starting to bug the hell out of him. But as frustrated as he felt with her holier-than-thou attitude, he was even more frustrated with himself. He had no idea how to teach her humility.

"Focus," he ordered in his sternest voice. "Meditation helps one become a better fighter."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," she said dismissively. "You know what also helps one become a better fighter? _Fighting_."

Kuai Liang sighed impatiently. "This will teach you how to control your mind and your emotions. When you fight, you must keep a level head at all times because the moment you lose control here-" he pointed to her heart – "is the moment you lose control here." He grabbed her fists to illustrate his point.

Frost immediately scowled and twisted free. He had noticed right after she joined the Lin Kuei that she had a problem with being touched. He frequently found himself wondering where her aversion to human contact stemmed from, and this moment was no different.

"That's old news," she complained. "I learned how to control my emotions back in Japan."

"Obviously," he retorted. "You're typically a cool and collected warrior in a fight. Virtually no emotion. But there are moments I see you succumb to your rage. _Those_ are the moments I worry about you the most. It's going to get you killed someday."

Frost rolled her eyes and scoffed in disgust. "Ugh. You sound like my father right now."

Sub-Zero clenched his jaw, trying to contain his own anger now. "I'm rapidly losing patience with you," he tersely replied. "I am your Sifu and your Grandmaster. You _will_ show me all due respect or I _will_ punish you."

His student narrowed her pretty blue eyes, but stifled whatever bitchy remark perched on the tip of her tongue. He sensed white-hot fury burning inside of her, but it was masked by her icy exterior. Once more, he found himself wondering what terrible things haunted her past and caused this violent anger festering within. She always clammed up when he broached the subject with her, but now he was determined to learn the source of the problem because it truly would get her killed if she didn't deal with it now.

"Tell me about your past," he commanded her.

A moment of panic filled her eyes, but that was quickly replaced by her usual coolness once more. "There's nothing to tell," she replied. It was how she always answered the question, and in the past Kuai Liang had accepted it. But not today.

"That wasn't a request. That was an order. What about your name?" he prodded. "'Frost' can't be your real name."

"It's the only one that matters now," she countered cryptically.

"I still want to know the real one," he insisted.

She froze, looking off in the distance as she fell deep into thought. Sub-Zero thought she'd argue about it more. But to his surprise, she finally sighed and then drooped her head as if in shame. "Miyuki," she told him. "That's what my father called me. It means 'silent snow.'"

"I know what it means," he responded curtly. She evidently was unaware that he spoke fluent Japanese.

She looked at him, her expression somewhat softer. "He said he called me that because when he took me in, a gentle snow was falling. He told me it was very quiet that night. Very peaceful. And then, when he first learned about my abilities, he realized it was a fitting name."

Kuai Liang nodded solemnly. "Good," he said. "Now we're getting somewhere."

She raised an eyebrow, the hardness returning. For a split second, her stern face looked exactly like Bi-han's. It was uncanny, and the Grandmaster inwardly shuddered as a peculiar thought occurred to him. What if she was his…no, that was silly.

"If it's all the same to you, I'd rather that be the end of this particular conversation," she growled.

"No," he stubbornly told her. "I can't help you face your past if I don't know what that past is."

Now she scowled. "I didn't _ask_ you to help me face my past," she hissed.

"Too bad. You're getting it anyway. Tell me about your family."

"Ugh!" she yelped. "What is this sudden fascination with my family and my past?" she demanded to know as she jumped to her feet. "It's none of your business!"

"You're one of my warriors now," he replied as he stood and then crossed his arms with equal chill. "So everything pertaining to you _is_ my business."

Frost started to argue, but then bit her tongue. Suddenly, a sneer spread across her face as a new thought occurred to her. "Okay, I'm game. But if, and _only if_, you play too."

"What?" He felt slightly confused.

"Quid pro quo, _Grandmaster_," she said. "You ask me a question, so I get to ask you a question."

Kuai Liang thought about it for a minute. What harm could come from it? And if it meant getting to the bottom of this mystery, he'd gladly do it. "All right," he agreed. "I'll ask first." Frost stared at him expectantly as he continued: "How did you get to Japan?"

"I don't know," she replied, but his gut told him she was lying. "I was very little and I don't remember." She paused. "My turn."

"What do you want to know?"

"How did _you_ come to join the Lin Kuei?"

"My father was a member, and he brought me and my brother into the clan." Now it was his turn again. "Who taught you to fight?"

"My father. Where is your family now?"

"My brother and father are dead," he replied flatly. "My mother lives in New York. Where is _your_ family now?"

"Dead," she said. "What was your father like?"

"Cold," Kuai Liang replied, thinking of An Zhi with bitter resentment. "He was very abusive. What happened to your family?"

"My mother and siblings died in an accident a long time ago. My father…passed away recently." Her voice took an odd tone when she mentioned her father. The Cryomancer sensed a particularly bad memory there, especially when her eyes fell to her hands. "What is your mother like?" she continued.

He couldn't tell if Frost was trying to make him uneasy talking about his family, or if she was genuinely curious to learn more about them, but either way, he felt a twinge of discomfort at her question. Still, in the interest of fairness, he answered: "She's one of the most loving, compassionate people I know. It nearly killed her when my father took us away."

Frost cocked her head. "Is she the only family you have left?" she asked, the vanity fading from her voice. She'd clearly abandoned her game of quid pro quo.

Kuai Liang sighed. "Well, not exactly," he said truthfully. "There's Anya, of course. And my best friend, Tomas. But that's complicated. And somewhere out there, I have a sister."

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh?" she pressed. "What do you mean 'somewhere out there'?"

He looked at her solemnly. "She's lost," he replied cryptically, not really wanting to talk about it. It was painful to imagine what An Zhi had done with her. "I think my father killed her."

"Did you even bother trying to find out for sure?" she said sharply. "Did you even look?"

He scowled. "Of course I did," he said. "And I probably would've kept looking. But with no leads and no clue as to where to begin, Anya pointed out to me that I was just wasting my time."

Frost nodded slowly. "I see," she said. "She's right. That makes perfect sense. There really _is_ no point if you have nothing to go on."

The Cryomancer suddenly got the feeling he crossed the boundary between student and teacher with Frost, and he felt uncomfortable. He'd told her too much about himself, and it was stuff she didn't need to know. He cleared his throat.

"That's enough for today," he announced. "I want you to go to the barracks and work on mediating. We'll try again tomorrow."

She clenched her jaw, clearly annoyed by the order. "But I want to spar," she argued. "Or at least show me how to do something with my powers that I don't already know."

"Have patience," he replied. "I'll teach you that stuff soon. But right now, do what I told you. That'll help you more than any physical thing I can show you."

"No," she protested rather childishly. "I came here to learn something new."

He narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms once more, looking down on her sternly. "Very well," he conceded. "In the tournament, I noticed you never really made the first move. You reacted to your opponents. Show me how you would initiate an attack."

She rolled her eyes. "Are you serious?" she replied. "That's child's play."

He smiled thinly. "Then you should have no trouble putting me on the mat, should you?"

Frost scoffed. "Okay, it's your funeral." She lunged at him with her fist extended. Her form was flawless as expected, but she underestimated Sub-Zero's ability, experience, and speed. He promptly deflected her outstretched arm, grabbed it, and yanked it towards his hip. Then he drove his elbow into the back of her skull before she could react. She fell like a sack of potatoes to the ground, and promptly groaned in pain as she rolled around holding her head.

"Get up," he barked. "I didn't even hit you that hard."

"How did you-" she muttered as she staggered to her feet. "Nobody's gotten me like that in a long time."

"I guess you _don't_ know everything there is to know about fighting," he chided her. "So instead of arguing with me, you need to do what I've commanded you. Go to your barracks now and meditate. And I even have something for you to reflect upon," he added as he now folded his arms behind his back. "I want you to think about why I defeated you so easily."

"Yes, Grandmaster," she replied with daggers in her eyes. At that moment, the Cryomancer knew she hated him a little for humiliating her. But it had to be done. He felt no regret.

"Tomorrow, I expect you to tell me why you lost to me. Now go."

Frost bowed as she had during the tournament, and then scurried away. She still rubbed her hands through her white hair, massaging her tender skull. Sub-Zero watched her slip through the double-doors, and then chuckled as he began setting up the training room for the boys' class due to start in ten minutes. He felt decidedly optimistic about the young woman's future in the Lin Kuei, and was certain he was getting through to her. But he would spend every free moment with her just to make sure.

* * *

**_White Mountain Apache Reservation_**

**12:31 A.M. MOUNTAIN TIME**

Noob stood in silence in the darkness with his arms crossed, uninterested in the occasional light illuminating a house here or there, waiting for Frost to make an appearance as promised. Smoke stood beside him, also silent. The undead warrior tolerated him much better now. As a cyborg, he didn't speak unless it was necessary. Fully human, the man always had something to say about everything. But now the wraith wasn't entirely certain his old comrade's programming was still functioning correctly. Since Quan Chi first hitched his soul to Tomas's in order to keep tabs on his loyalty, Noob sensed much more emotion stirring beneath the surface than he expected. Occasionally, he even heard the stray thought independent of computer processors. It was an intriguing development, perhaps one he could use to his advantage.

Suddenly, there was the familiar whoosh of a portal opening, and in the field nearby they saw a swirling orange vortex burst into existence. A dog barked at the sound, but no one paid it any mind. A moment later, a feminine figure stepped through.

"Finally," he grumbled underneath his breath.

The petite shadow crept towards them stealthily, and within a minute had crossed the breadth of empty prairie between them. When she reached them, Noob immediately noticed Frost looked more put-together than normal. She, not surprisingly, had traded in her plain black ninja garb for the traditional warrior's uniform of the Lin Kuei, indicating her success with the side mission Quan Chi sent her on. And now, rather than let her wild white hair fall freely where it will, she had tied it up in a tight bun on her crown. The wraith found he preferred the half-crazed way she usually looked to the new and improved psychopath before him.

"You're late," he hissed.

"Well, it's not my fault," she said in a pouty, unapologetic voice. "Sub-Zero had me contemplating life and all its stupid mysteries. I half expected him to make me sing 'Kumbaya' and braid my hair like some sort of hippie love child. How _he _became the Grandmaster is beyond me. He certainly doesn't deserve it." She paused. "But don't worry, Noob, I'm here now. So let's do this."

"Not yet," he declared. "First, we talk."

"Sorry, sweetheart, I'm not in the mood for any idle gossip today. Already had my fill with your little brother."

"Why did Quan Chi send _you_ to infiltrate the Lin Kuei?"

She chuckled. "Well, I'd like to think it's because I'm just so damn amazing that he knew no one else could get it done like me," she replied. "But in reality, I think it just boils down to how your roguish good looks and boyish charm intimidate my dear Grandmaster." She paused for a minute, touching her chin with her index finger in mock reverie. "No, I'm pretty sure I was right the first time."

Noob lost his patience immediately. He shot out his hand and grabbed her by the throat. "Do I _look_ like someone who likes to play games?" he snarled.

She giggled softly, unafraid as she clutched his rigid arm with both hands. "You are _such_ a good role model for me," she praised him in a strangled voice, a compliment that bewildered him. "Unlike Sub-Zero, who's an incredible letdown. To think, he could be a force to be reckoned with if he wasn't weighted down by 120 pounds of pygmy shrew." Noob released her.

"Are you referring to the woman who is always with him?" Smoke asked, interjecting himself into the conversation for the first time.

"Who _else_ would I be referring to, Frankenstein?" Frost scoffed. "Man, I can't _wait_ to show that bitch the white light I'm made of. Just need to find a way to coax her away from the temple. Then I can ice her. And not a moment too soon. Those two are so in love with each other it makes me sick. She needs to die for that reason alone."

"Impossible," the cyber-ninja told her. "Quan Chi ordered us to bring her and three others to him. We are to take her as well as one of Nightwolf's children, Jade, and Kabal's sister hostage. You cannot touch her."

A dark shadow crossed her face. "What?" she hissed, clearly angry. "I want her dead!"

"Too bad," Smoke replied flatly. His digital voice betrayed no emotion, though Noob sensed a brotherly protectiveness towards their target emanating from him. It was very faint, almost non-existent, but present nonetheless.

"Why, Frost?" the wraith growled, uninterested in his old comrade's feelings at the moment. "Why did he send _you _to the Lin Kuei?"

"I could tell you, Noob," she replied as her eyes narrowed in the moonlight. "But wouldn't it be more fun for me to show you?"

"Show me?" he repeated.

"I have a talent," she told him with an evil twinkle in her eye. "One I think you'll appreciate."

The wraith eyed her up and down. "No tricks."

"Aw, you're not jealous because I'm teacher's pet now, are you?" she asked. "Don't worry, Noob. Quan Chi still loves _all_ his children." She chuckled at her joke.

"No tricks," he repeated.

"Well, aren't _we_ chock full of Ovaltine," she replied. "Let's go. Is this the house?"

"Yes," Smoke replied. "Quan Chi told us that Nightwolf will be gone until morning."

"That should make it easy. After you, Maytag."

"No," Noob said. "He will stay outside and stand guard."

She grinned wickedly. "Oh, I just love it when the men take charge," she said snidely. "Lead the way, tough guy."

The wraith gripped her shoulder and pushed her through the sudden black portal through space-time that he created behind her. She yelped softly in surprise, but he was unmoved as he followed her. In a split second, both warriors found themselves inside the small house. It was immaculate but well-decorated by traditional Native American artifacts, Apache he assumed, though he could care less. Frost, on the other hand, leaned over a couch shoved against a wall to study a set of crossed gan wands made of bone mounted above it. They were hung to the wall beneath an ornate headdress made of eagle feathers. As she stretched out her arm to touch them, he yanked on her shoulder again to stop her.

She glared at him as she retracted her hand. "Don't touch me," she snarled almost inaudibly.

Noob said nothing in reply as he motioned towards a short hallway leading from the living room to two bedrooms at the end. He was certain this was where Nightwolf's family would be sleeping. He went to the last room on the right and saw an Indian woman snoring peacefully on a full-sized bed in a long cotton nightgown. She was attractive enough, as women went, though she certainly wasn't the prettiest woman he'd ever seen.

The wraith crept quietly into the room, a cursed black knife forged in the Netherrealm now clinched tightly in his hand. He quickly reached her bedside and leaned over. A surge of excitement rushed through his tainted blood as he clamped his hand over her mouth and her eyes opened in bewilderment. The woman immediately saw him and screamed as she took a swing at him, but he promptly silenced her by slicing her throat with his knife, making sure to sever both her carotid arteries. Hot blood spurted onto his hand and arm, spraying onto the wall as well, and from the doorway Frost scoffed.

"What?" he hissed as he left the dead woman and stalked to his partner.

"That was immensely boring," she criticized. "The least you could do is take pride in your work."

"I take pride in coming and going like a shadow," he retorted. "Our point here is not to put on a show."

"Be that as it may," she whispered, "you should always enjoy what you do. Let me show you."

Frost traipsed a short distance to the next room where two little boys huddled and sobbed in a corner, obviously having heard their mother dying in the next room. Noob approximated their ages around two and nine, judging by their appearances, about the same age difference as he and Kuai Liang. A faint pang of guilt, something like a Siren's call miles away, sang to him, but Saibot, the demon who lived inside of him, blessedly shoved it away. Every now and then, but especially when he thought of his younger brother, a lingering sense of fault bothered him. Death and damnation had not been as freeing as he'd once hoped. Noob felt grateful to Saibot for unburdening his conscience.

Frost, on the other hand, seemed not to struggle at the sight of the terrified children. An ice dagger promptly sprang from her hand, shocking the wraith. She was a Cryomancer? Nobody had told him this information, and he felt furious at the development, like he'd been deliberately kept in the dark. This must've been the 'talent' she was referring to, and this must've been what she meant when she said she wanted to 'ice' his brother's woman. Noob had merely thought she was using a slang word for kill, but now it was apparent the word had taken on dual meanings for her. And he didn't appreciate the surprise.

"Oh, come on now, kids," Frost began with an evil smile. "This won't hurt…much."

She then lunged at them, stepping on a battery-operated stuffed puppy that barked when her foot touched it, making her jump slightly. But after she cursed under her breath, she quickly recovered and grabbed the older boy by his pajamas, lifting him up, and throwing him to Noob's waiting arms. With newfound spunk, the child flailed an arm around and tried to hit the wraith, but he and Saibot both chuckled cruelly and wrapped their arm around his neck to immobilize him. Nightwolf's son started to scream for help, but Noob silenced him when he clamped a hand, now sticky with the mother's blood, over his mouth.

Meanwhile, Frost approached the toddler with her dagger poised to kill. The child looked at her with wide, dark eyes full of fear and tears, but didn't know to resist her. She ruthlessly gripped him by the throat and immediately plunged her weapon into his sternum, and he squealed in pain as he lurched forward. The older child started to cry harder as he struggled to work his way from the wraith's arms, but Noob held him more tenaciously. Now the female Cryomancer dragged her blade slowly down the boy's chest, and giggled as a fountain of blood and a deep gurgling sound burst from his mouth.

"Frost!" Noob snapped. "Just get it over with. You're taking too long."

She scoffed impatiently. "Fine," she replied in annoyance. She immediately twisted the blade deeper into the toddler's torso just as a new ice dagger appeared in her other hand. Skillfully, she swiped it across his throat, cutting so deep that she nearly decapitated him. The wraith felt mildly impressed with her as he watched the toddler's head flop back as if on some sort of hinge. Her remorselessness was something to be admired.

In Noob's arms, the boy fainted. Frost noticed right away and chuckled. "Aw, look," she teased, "poor little guy's had a tough day."

The wraith hoisted the child up and formed another black portal. "Be quiet," he said. "It's a wonder no one knows we're here, no thanks to you."

She stepped towards him with that irritating grin on her face. "Girls just want to have fun," she replied. "It says so in a song, so you know it's true."

"You know what would be fun?" he retorted. "Driving thumb-screws into your fingernails."

Frost burst out laughing at that, but said nothing as she sauntered through the vortex and disappeared. Noob looked at the child in his arms, wondering what Quan Chi wanted him – any of the soon-to-be hostages, really – for. But mostly, he wondered about his partner's ability to manipulate ice. That was clearly the way she convinced Kuai Liang to take her in and why Quan Chi sent her in the first place, but to what end he had no clue. But he was going to find out.


	13. An Unexpected Visit

**Author's Note: Judging by the reviews and PMs I received for the last chapter, I really disturbed everyone. I'm okay with that (I'm not nicknamed Poe's Daughter in real life for nothing) but I know that too much sick and twisted can be a bad thing. So I give you this chapter. I'm worried it's too sappy even though I had some of my guy friends coach me on what would be the proper thing in this particular situation, but even if it is, after the last chapter, what you need is to wash away the upsetting imagery with puppies and rainbows. So I hope you enjoy your bath =D**

**Special thanks goes to HavenRose because she helped me figure out how to end this chapter and gave me good suggestions as to how I could do that.**

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"Forty-seven!" Sub-Zero barked as he walked around Frost with his arms held firmly behind his back. On the mat beneath him, his pupil did push-ups as punishment for her incessantly smart mouth, and by the sound of her labored grunts she was mad as hell at him. "Forty-eight! Forty-nine! Get your body straight now, Frost, or I'll make you start over! I'm not _even_ kidding. How dare you think I'll tolerate you getting lazy on your last one? That's better. Fifty!"

She flopped onto the mat in exhaustion, and the Grandmaster understood. He didn't care what anyone said to the contrary; no matter how physically fit a person was - and Frost was in remarkable shape – push-ups sucked. That's why they were ample punishment. And hopefully, she'd think twice before she rolled her eyes at him again when he talked to her about proper breathing techniques.

"Have you had enough?" he asked.

"Yes," she panted.

"Yes, what?" he snapped.

"Yes, Sifu," she said.

"That's better. Now get up."

Frost wearily obeyed and stood at rigid attention before him. He stalked around her slowly, eyeing her up and down just to make her uncomfortable, keeping his hands behind his back at all times. He hated that he had to act so stern towards her – he certainly didn't have to be so harsh with the children – but he knew of no other way to command her respect. The female Cryomancer didn't seem to respond well to kindness. On the contrary, corporal punishment was her true language, and he would speak it loudly in order to take her arrogance down a few pegs.

"I know you can make daggers," he began. "But can you make a kori sword?"

She breathed deeply, still trying to catch her breath. "No, Sifu," she answered, her eyes focused on a point in front of her. He noticed the hatred burning in her blue orbs. Good. That hatred meant he was doing his job.

"Would you like to learn how?" he asked.

Frost's eyes darted to him in surprise. The anger subsided. "Yes, please," she said, her voice full of respect and eagerness. Sub-Zero inwardly smiled. Arrogance notwithstanding, at least she was passionate to learn more about her abilities.

"Very well," he replied. "But I expect you to listen with no arguments. Agreed?"

"Agreed," she said.

He inhaled. "This is one of the hardest things to do," he began. "I tried and failed to do this countless times before I finally succeeded."

"Didn't your father teach you?" she boldly asked.

"No," Kuai Liang replied curtly, thinking of how his father passed the buck to Bi-han. His brother had tried his hardest to teach the concept to him, but his approach had been vastly different than the younger Cryomancer's. It wasn't until Himavat popped into his life that he began to understand how to make a kori sword.

"But-" Frost started to argue, but he abruptly cut her off.

"That's not relevant to _this_ discussion," he told her. "You have to figure out what works best for you. My brother believed that the key to making a kori sword was in suppressing his emotions completely. I tried that. It didn't work for me."

"Well, what _did_ work for you?" she asked curiously.

"The exact opposite," he explained. "I let all the emotions in at once. And then I channeled them into one point. At the same time, I visualized the sword in my hands. And then-" he produced the weapon with his powers "-my imagination became reality."

Frost eyed the sword with an expression that almost looked like hunger. Her face was frantic and greedy, clearly wanting to wield the power he did. It concerned Sub-Zero deeply, and he briefly wondered if he'd made a mistake introducing this concept to her so soon.

"I want to try!" she exclaimed.

He sighed. Too late now. "Okay, visualize the sword and make it become reality." He wasn't really sure how to explain it to her beyond that. It was something a Cryomancer had to develop an instinct for. Bi-han had struggled with it before he did, and before both of them their father had too, and probably his father before him. He wouldn't be surprised if his protégé failed on her first attempt.

As expected, her efforts failed. Frost squeezed her eyes tightly together, wrenching her face into an ugly mask as white fog wafted from her hands and arms. A second later, a white spray of ice and snow exploded from her fingertips and coated the mat with a glossy sheen. It instantly spread in all directions, shooting beneath Sub-Zero's feet so fast that it knocked him off balance. He waved his arms around comically to keep from falling, but gravity just laughed at him. He immediately found himself collapsing towards the floor, and he braced for impact.

But to Kuai Liang's surprise, he watched as he fell _through_ the mat, the horizontal plane consuming his sight, and he found himself moving through a cold envelope that pulsated with a star-like glow. It was if he were rapidly tunneling backwards through ice, and mild panic filled through him as he slid through shining white walls. Almost as soon as he found himself falling, he was on his feet and unharmed in the McKinley Room once more, though now he was on the opposite side of it by the window. He looked around in frantic bewilderment.

"How did you do that?" Frost demanded to know, her voice slightly shrill.

"Do what?" he asked in confusion. "What did you see?"

She rolled her eyes at him, but he was so intrigued by what just happened that he didn't even notice. "A puddle of ice appeared behind you," she said. "You fell into it. But it looked like you were falling into a pool of water. And then you reappeared a second later over there."

"Whoa," he mumbled, not remotely concerned about appearing like an authority figure anymore. He had teleported! He wished Bi-han – the _old_ Bi-han – was there to see this newest ability. For once, the little brother did something before the older. Kuai Liang laughed in small triumph at the thought. _Take that, Brother,_ he chuckled to himself. He hoped Bi-han, wherever he was at, heard him.

"You mean you've never done that before?" Frost asked.

"Nope," he replied honestly. Now he wished Tomas was there. Now they _both_ could teleport, and he wanted to show off his new skill to his best friend like a little kid. If only he'd discovered this talent as a boy. Would've made sneaking out of the temple a heck of a lot easier. Frustration suddenly flooded him. It was a proud moment in his life, and he had no one to share it with. Except for Anya…"I've got to go," he said, unable to contain his grin.

"But, our lesson!" Frost yelped in anger and exasperation.

"I have to talk to Anya," he replied as he headed towards the door. "Work on trying to make a kori sword until the next class starts."

Kuai Liang left his pupil in the training hall and ran into the hallway. He suspected Anya would be somewhere around the nursery – that's where she always hung out this time of the day – so he bolted towards it. As he jogged through the corridors, many of the boys said, "Hello, Sifu" or "Hello, Grandmaster," but he barely paid them any attention, only vaguely nodding at them as he passed, if that. About five minutes later, he saw her standing in the middle of the Polaris Hallway outside of the nursery as he expected. However, he was surprised to see her talking to his mother.

"There he is!" the older woman beamed at him as he approached.

"Mom," he said breathlessly as he joined them. "What are you doing here?"

"Kuai Liang, what on earth have you been doing?" Anya asked as she stared at him with a raised eyebrow. She didn't exactly seem happy to see him. For some reason, she'd been grouchy with him lately. Ever since the tournament, he thought.

"You'll never believe what just happened," he told them. "I was training with Frost-"

"Mistress Anya, Mistress Anya," Kamala's voice interrupted as she joined the three.

"Stop calling me that!" she yelped in exasperation.

The other woman looked at the nurse blankly. "Bomani is…how do you say?" She rattled off a string of words in Tibetan before she looked at Sub-Zero for a translation.

He looked at his girlfriend. "She says he won't stop crying," he told her.

Anya looked back at Kamala. "I'm coming," she mumbled and then quickly hugged Maggie. "We'll have to catch up later on," she said. Then she glanced at Kuai Liang. "You'll have to tell me whatever it is you were gonna tell me later."

"Fine," he muttered, now unhappy. He looked to his mother. She was smiling.

"That girl's gonna be a mighty fine mother someday," she announced as she leaned in the nursery doorway and watched Anya pick up Cyrax's six-month-old son while Kamala tended to one of the other infants.

Kuai Liang stood behind Maggie and stared into the nursery as well. The nurse, unaware she had an audience, leaned the baby onto her shoulder and patted his back gently. The boy stopped bawling immediately as she cooed at him. The Cryomancer smiled at the sight. "Yeah, she will be," he agreed. And then he backed away, pulling on Maggie's shoulder. "You never answered my question," he said. "Why are you here?"

The Irishwoman raised an eyebrow at him. "That's no way to talk to your mother," she replied. "Sass me again, and I'll slap you," she threatened.

"_Mother_," he said impatiently.

"Well, I wanted you to show me your new house," she explained. "Had to come see if you were well taken care of. And by the looks of it, you are. Maybe a little _too _well taken care of. Still, you wouldn't mind giving me the grand tour, would you?"

Kuai Liang really didn't have the time for it now, but he couldn't turn her down. "Yeah, come on," he said. She beamed again and threaded her arm through his. He almost laughed at her. She was nearly a foot shorter than him.

"So, how are things with Anya?" she prodded.

"Good," he replied, sensing she was grilling him for information. Not that he had anything new to report, really. "This is the Sirius Corridor," he told her as they walked into the hallway where most of the training rooms were located.

"Seriously?" Maggie joked. He squinted his eyes at her in mild annoyance, but she flashed him an ornery grin as he glanced down at her.

"It's named after the star," he explained flatly. "All the major hallways are named after important stars."

Suddenly, the doors to the McKinley Room slammed open, and Frost stormed out with a scowl on her face, her eyes focused on the floor. She was so engrossed in her anger that she didn't even see Sub-Zero and Maggie until she literally ran into them, inadvertently pushing them backwards. She stumbled from the force, and surprise filled her expression as she looked up and saw the two.

"Frost!" he yelled. "Don't you watch where you're walking?"

But she said nothing. Instead, her eyes focused on the woman beside him who was smoothing her chestnut hair. His young pupil's face instantly turned white as a sheet. She took a step back as if terrified, which puzzled Kuai Liang. She was many things, but fearful towards strangers wasn't one of them. Why did his mother seem to frighten her?

"Are you okay?" he demanded to know. "You didn't hit your head, did you?"

Frost shook her head as if jarred from deep reverie before she looked at him. "No," she said. "I'm fine. So who's this?" The haughty tone had returned.

Sub-Zero wanted to keep his private life away from his students as much as possible, but now it was too late for that. "Frost, this is my mother, Maggie," he introduced. "Mom, this is Frost, my newest student." He looked at the Irishwoman, but now noticed a similar look of abject terror on her face. What in the world was going on? "What, do you two know each other or something?" he hissed.

"No, Sifu," Frost replied just as Maggie said, "I've never seen her before in my life."

However, Kuai Liang got the distinct impression they were both lying. He let them stare at each other for a long moment before he finally put an end to it. "Frost, go to your barracks and meditate," he barked. "I don't want to see you until dinnertime." His mood was rapidly spiraling downward. He didn't like being lied to, not by his mother and _especially _not by his student.

The female Cryomancer bowed to him and said, "Yes, Grandmaster." Then she hurried away, still clearly shaken by recent events.

"Where does that girl come from?" his mother asked.

"Japan," he told her as he led her towards the training rooms. He didn't think they were particularly interesting, but she wanted a grand tour, so she was going to get just that.

"But she's white," Maggie protested. "She's not Japanese."

"She was adopted." He didn't feel like talking about Frost, and he fully intended to keep his answers about her short and sweet.

His mother must have sensed his feelings on the matter, however, and she quickly changed the subject. "I confess I have an ulterior motive for visiting you," she announced. "I have a gift for you."

"Oh?" he asked, his curiosity suddenly piqued. "What?"

"Are these rooms empty?" she asked, approaching the double-doors of the Elbrus Room.

"For now," he said. "Why?"

"Because I want this to be a private conversation." Maggie winked at him.

Kuai Liang couldn't help but smile back in spite of his suddenly foul mood as he held out an outstretched hand towards the doors. "After you."

Once they were safely inside the smallest training room and the doors were securely latched behind them, Maggie began rifling through her jacket pockets. The Cryomancer watched in interest as she found what she was looking for and held it before his face. In her hand was a tiny, ancient looking jewelry box. He raised an eyebrow at her as he reluctantly took it from her.

"Open it," she said in excitement.

Warily, Kuai Liang obeyed her. Inside was a silver ring with two hands clasped around a heart-shaped emerald. Above the jewel was a little crown composed of several small diamond chips glittering in the light. He looked at Maggie like she had lost her mind.

"You're giving me a ring?" he asked uncertainly. This had to be a joke or something. "Really?"

She rolled her eyes. "It's not just any ring, son," she told him. "It's a claddagh ring. And a Sullivan family heirloom. Passed down through our family for over a hundred years, since we still lived in Ireland. My great-grandmother gave it to my grandmother, and she gave it to my father, who gave it to my mother on their wedding day. She, in turn, gave it to me. And now I'm giving it to you."

Kuai Liang blinked, feeling touched that she wanted him to have a piece of her family history. "Thank you," he said. "But why are you giving this to me now?"

A mischievous grin spread across her face. "Well, for two reasons," she began. "For one, you're the last Sullivan. And this ring always belongs in the hands of a Sullivan. But since I really have no use for it, it's basically just been sitting in my jewelry collection gathering dust. I think you could put it to better use. A ring this pretty deserves to be seen."

"What do you mean?" he asked, though he suspected he already knew the answer. This wasn't an ordinary ring. It was a wedding band. He stared at her expectantly.

"Well, that leads me to reason number two. I thought you might like to give it to someone as well."

"Mother-" he started, but she interrupted.

"Now don't give me any crap," she silenced him. "I'm not trying to put any pressure on you to do anything you don't want. I just want you to have it if you need it."

"I don't want you to think I don't appreciate this because I do," the Cryomancer began, slightly flustered. His heart fluttered in embarrassment at the thought. This was the last conversation in the world that he wanted to be having at the moment. "But that's a discussion she and I've never even had," he explained.

"Well, maybe it's time you had it," she declared. "I mean, if you can live together and sleep together, I would think that talking about making it official would come easily."

Kuai Liang felt a headache coming on. "I'll take it under advisement," he said drily as he headed towards the doors to leave the training room. "But I really should get back to work."

"Alright, Babby," she said.

"You know I'm not a little boy, right?" he asked as he looked back at her. "I think I might be a tad too old for you to be calling me that."

"Too bad," she replied plainly as she followed him. She gazed at him fearlessly as she crossed her arms. "I don't care if you don't like it. It's my prerogative. And if you're not careful, I'll go out of my way to embarrass you in the hallway in front of your students."

Kuai Liang narrowed his eyes. "Whatever," he sighed as he led her from the training room and to the portal room. Shen was on duty, but although he didn't really want her to hug him in front of the cyber-ninja, she gave him a warning look that dared him _not_ to let her, so he reluctantly obliged.

"Come visit soon," she then told him as she stepped towards the circling vortex.

"I'll try," he replied. "Thank you for this." The Cryomancer held up the small box.

Maggie winked. "Put it to good use," she ordered. And then she was gone.

Kuai Liang rubbed his eyes tiredly before he slipped the box into his baggy pants pocket. Then he wordlessly left the room and headed back towards the nursery. He supposed it wouldn't hurt to at least test the waters with Anya to see where she stood; ever since Kabal had brought it up in that tree outside the old Lin Kuei temple, the Cryomancer often found himself wondering if that was even something he should consider. Things were just fine the way they were now, and he genuinely believed in that old saying: _If it's not broke, don't fix it_. Furthermore, he was a creature of habit and was generally resistant to change, not wanting to break free of his image as the stern loner. But by the same token, she was already as much a part of his family as his mother, and everyone already knew it, so why not just go with it?

The Grandmaster found Anya where he'd left her nearly a half hour prior, but now she sat in a rocking chair with her eyes closed as Bomani rested on her shoulder. His eyes weren't closed completely but they were rapidly getting there. Kamala was busy wiping off the counters, but Kuai Liang wanted her out of the nursery, so he motioned for her to leave. She obediently scurried out right away, and when she was gone, he knelt by Anya's chair.

"I'm trying to put this kid to sleep," she whispered, her eyes still closed.

"I can see that," he replied.

"Where's your mother?"

"She left. I told her I was busy."

"You could've sent her to me. I could use some company," she announced.

"What do you mean?" he asked in genuine surprise.

"I'm surrounded by nothing but babies, children, robots, and Kamala. I don't know if you've noticed this," she started sarcastically, "but that woman doesn't speak much English."

"You've got me," he said with a playful smile.

Anya opened her eyelids and stared at him with her sharp, lavender-colored orbs. "Not really," she replied. "You're too busy playing with Frost anymore to talk to me."

"I wanted to talk to you earlier, but you cut me off," he shot back.

She narrowed her eyes. "For one, I can't help it if Kamala can't deal with these babies when something goes wrong. She doesn't handle stress very well. I'd hate to see what she was like with them before _I_ was around." The nurse inhaled deeply. "For two, you'll forgive me if I don't want to hear about how great and perfect your little star is."

He chuckled softly, mildly amused by her obvious jealousy. He patted her head. "Well, you know I wasn't coming to tell you about Frost," he told her. "It was about me."

Her expression softened. "Oh? What about you?"

"I discovered a new ability. Evidently, I can teleport using ice."

Now Anya laughed. "What?" she asked in disbelief.

"It's true," he said. "I fell, but instead of landing on my butt like I expected, I passed completely through the floor through an ice puddle and wound up on the other side of the room."

"Cool," she said with a smirk. "Pun _definitely_ intended."

"Yes, just think of the possibilities," he began. He flashed an ornery grin at her. "Now I have an entirely new way to sneak up on you and scare the crap out of you."

She made a funny face as she rolled her eyes. "Better _not_," she muttered. "Do you think it's the Dragon Medallion amplifying your abilities?" she asked a moment later.

He bit his lip as he thought about it. Good question. "Maybe," he said as he shrugged. He _had _been feeling much stronger and more energetic since the thing first claimed him. And growing up, he'd always been taught that it had mystical properties, even though he thought such rumors were superstitious hokum to keep the warriors from defying the Grandmaster. Maybe he'd been wrong about his ideas.

Anya smiled sweetly at him as she stood and walked the now sleeping Bomani to his bassinet. She carefully placed him down before she placed a small blanket over his body, and then she whirled around to face Kuai Liang once more. "So what'd your mom have to say?"

The Cryomancer suddenly remembered why he'd come back to the nursery again in the first place. He laughed and shook his head. "Well, you know, it was the strangest thing," he began. "She suggested that since we're living together, we should make it official." He couldn't bring himself to say the phrase "Get married." It sounded too weird to him. Those were words no one, least of all _him_, associated with him.

She smiled uncertainly. "Oh, really?" she asked in mild amusement. "You know, I've got to be honest. I kind of wish she would mind her own business."

"Tell me about it," he replied as Anya resumed cleaning up where Kamala had left off. "I mean, it's a silly, sentimental thought anyway."

She glanced at him and then shrugged. "Well, I don't know," she said slowly. She thought about it for a long moment and then scoffed. "No, you're right. Completely silly," she told him dismissively. "I mean, it's not like it'd really change anything."

"Exactly," he said, though the more he tried to push away the idea, the more it seemed like a good one. "It's just an excuse for people to have a stupid party."

"And get dressed up in clothes they're never gonna wear again," she added. Her face, like his own, belied her.

Kuai Liang stepped closer to her as she looked up at him with an expectant grin on her face and a hand on her hip as she leaned over the counter slightly. He instinctively started to reach for the ring in his pocket, and he felt his fingers brush the sharp edges of the box. "But you know, my mom gave me-" he began, but was suddenly interrupted.

"Grandmaster," Frost's loud voice cut through the nursery. Anya's head immediately dropped in defeat as she and Kuai Liang both faced her. Both of her hands were on her hips, and she wore her usual arrogant expression on her face. "Oh, sorry," she said. "You two are having a moment."

"What is it?" he asked in annoyance as he walked towards her. "I told you to go to your barracks."

"True, and I did, but I need your assistance," she replied unapologetically. "I need more instruction than you just throwing me into the proverbial deep end and expecting me to swim."

"Fine," he sighed. She had a point. He _had _just abandoned her in his excitement earlier. He glanced over at Anya, who had suddenly become very engrossed in the cloth she was using to wipe the counters. "I'll talk to you later," he said.

"Uh-huh," she replied, seemingly distracted.

The moment had come and gone, but it was just as well he supposed. He had nearly let his emotions get the better of him, and that was something that he couldn't afford, especially now that he had to be a leader to his warriors. Impulsivity was something to be avoided at all costs, especially on matters such as this. Even still, as he followed his student into the hallway, Kuai Liang imagined his family's ring in his pocket was cursing him for the missed opportunity.


	14. Downward Spiral

**Author's Note: For those of you wondering, th_e _party will be moving to Outworld soon. I have a few chapters that have to happen first, but they will all get there, and then the serious ass-kicking will begin. That is all.  
**

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**_King George High School_**

**1:15 P.M. EASTERN STANDARD TIME**

Three days after their mission in Arizona and a day after having killed Justin Carlton, Johnny Cage's screenwriter brother in Los Angeles, Smoke, Noob, and Frost snuck into a small school in Fairview Beach, Virginia. They had one target in the tiny coastal village: Kurtis Stryker's seventeen-year-old brother, Caleb. The boy was, according to Quan Chi, at the school, which was to be expected given this time of the day. However, Smoke's logic circuits told him that killing the child in a public place during the daylight was a terrible idea, even though the Sorcerer insisted that now, the time was right.

Frost seemed entirely too excited about this latest mission. She was a particularly bloodthirsty woman. Though his Slaving Protocols worked hard to suppress his emotions, Smoke couldn't help but feel uneasy around the obvious psychopath. When she'd killed Nightwolf's son only three nights prior, the cyber-ninja sensed Noob's anger towards her for drawing it out rather than just doing it quickly. The wraith, he knew, was not opposed to bloodshed and torture, but he was annoyed that the woman had to make a show of it when stealth was critical to their mission's success. Smoke had to agree with his old friend. But even beyond that, a nagging voice buried deep inside him screamed at him that their mission was wrong. The Slaving Protocols couldn't erase that thought, however, and he felt compelled to resist them when they tried.

Noob, on the other hand, didn't resist their orders on a moral ground. The wraith's soul was a black, tarnished, twisted thing barely recognizable to the only member of the group who once loved him like a brother. He was vicious, and cruel, and remorseless. Furthermore, Smoke sensed in him a rebelliousness towards his master that grew with each passing second. The cyber-ninja had been ordered to report such a contingency to Sektor, who would then report it to Quan Chi. However, he couldn't bring himself to turn Bi-han in. As with so many things lately, he didn't know why.

Of course, Smoke's thoughts were vague and cloudy. His processors still controlled the majority of his brain functions and by extension him. Though, the defiant voice he'd been hearing a lot from lately kept screaming at him to throw off these inhuman shackles and fight to reclaim his soul. It was gradually getting stronger, as were the faint, dreamlike images of a boy being sacrificed by a cult on an altar somewhere in Prague. Even as he walked through the high school on a mission to kill Caleb Stryker, he couldn't ignore the blaring red "WARNING: MALFUNCTION" alarms flashing at his ocular implants.

The trio of assassins found the door they were looking for. "This is the appropriate room," Smoke announced. "We are to wait here until the boy emerges."

"I don't like this," Frost declared. "I say we go in, ice the kid _and_ his classmates so there'll be no witnesses, and go."

"No," Noob said firmly as he crossed his arms. "You're sitting this one out. Your display at Nightwolf's house was embarrassing. How _dare_ you call yourself a _kunoichi_? You have no concept of the word 'stealth.'"

A dark cloud crossed her face. "I know plenty about stealth. I just don't care."

"Well, you should. The more people who know about us, the more likely it'll be that Raiden notices us."

"There is logic to his sentiment," Smoke added. "Raiden will interfere."

"Then we kill him too," the Cryomancer said flatly.

"We cannot. He is immortal."

"I'm sure there are ways."

"Regardless of what you think, woman, Smoke will handle this," Noob said.

"Fine," she agreed. "Let Robo-Cop have some fun too. I'm not greedy."

The three warriors stood in the hallway quietly after that, and Smoke – both his nagging internal voice as well as his processors – thought it was unusual that nobody walked by. He remained distrustful and vigilant, certain that any given moment, someone would come along and catch the trespassers. But none of that happened. Instead, after exactly two-point-four minutes in the empty corridor, the thick, windowless door swung open and a teenage boy stepped out.

The child reminded the cyber-ninja a lot of Kuai Liang when he was a boy, if Kuai Liang had wheat-colored hair rather than walnut. But in spite of color differences, this young man's hair was longish and unkempt just like his old friend's used to be, and his eyes were also blue with dark eyelashes framing them. But what reminded him the most of the Cryomancer was how gangly he was for his age. This teenager was spindly at best, and tall, which made his features appear even more gaunt and severe. Smoke's sensors recognized him immediately.

"This is the boy," he announced.

"Who are you?" Caleb yelped as he shrunk away from them in fear, especially when his eyes fell on Noob Saibot.

"Trouble," Frost squeaked in glee as she blocked the teenager from running back inside his classroom. She grabbed him by the arm, covered his mouth with her hand, and refused to let go. "Sic him, HAL." Smoke knew she spoke to him, but he did not understand her reference.

The inner voice screamed louder at the cyber-ninja now. Not only did this child resemble his former best friend, he reminded Smoke of his own son. Though Alexander had only been born due to Oniro's need to keep the Lin Kuei populated, and not out of love like Tomas always expected it would be for him, the child was still his. And strangely, when he looked at Caleb, he saw Alexander's innocent infant face starting back at him. He remembered, almost as if it were a dream, Sifu Hydro secretly teaching him, Bi-han, and Kuai Liang not to kill anyone but their assigned targets unless provoked, and even then only as a last resort. He knew this task was fundamentally wrong. Children did not warrant assassination, no matter what.

"No," he said. "We will take him prisoner," he announced.

"Those are _not _our orders," Noob hissed in annoyance.

"I do not want to kill him."

Frost cackled. "My dear Smoke. You let your clan turn you into a freak. A monster. And now you're not gonna bite? I'm sorry, but that's adorable."

Smoke started to argue, but suddenly felt something black and inky slither over what little willpower he had. It was dark and tar-like, as if evil were something tangible. He realized that it was Noob Saibot's soul seizing control, and he was helpless to resist. His own spirit was entirely too weak for that. He glanced at the wraith.

"Interesting," the shadow figure muttered. A wave of amusement surged through their invisible umbilical cord. "Evidently, this tether is good for more than just keeping tabs on me."

With that, Smoke felt an overwhelming urge to kill Caleb Stryker, though it was not his own desire. The internal command stemmed from no processors, but rather from the wraith beside him. Obediently, the cyber-ninja stepped towards the wide-eyed, shocked boy and grabbed him by the skull. Then, with merciful quickness he jerked it to the side and snapped it. A loud crack filled the air as he broke Caleb's neck, and then a terrible guilt flooded him as Kurtis Stryker's brother collapsed to the floor in a dead heap. For some reason, he saw Alexander lying there instead.

The "WARNING: MALFUNCTION" alarms blared louder than ever.

* * *

Kuai Liang was exhausted, sore, and had a raging migraine by the time he slunk into his bedroom late one night. Frost, as she had every day since he'd first brought her into the Lin Kuei, pushed him to his utmost physical, spiritual, and emotional limits. He could remember no other point in his life when he worked so hard. Training her was a challenge he never expected; in terms of actual fighting she needed little improvement. Yet, her form lacked a certain finesse because it was so cold and mechanical, and her haughtiness was overwhelming. The young woman surpassed Sub-Zero's father in terms of sheer arrogance, and if she didn't beat Oniro in that department as well, she ran a close second. But in spite of that, Frost was anxious to learn everything she could about Cryomancy, so he worked incessantly to teach her everything he knew, and she greedily absorbed his knowledge like a sponge. It was exciting work, and it gave him sense of community knowing he wasn't the only Cryomancer left alive, but she wore him out. So now, all he wanted was to climb into bed and sleep until it was time to start all over again the next day.

But Anya had other plans. She traipsed into their extravagant bedroom just as he stepped from the shower in their adjoining master bathroom, found him covered with a large towel around his waist, and smirked as she came up behind him and wrapped her slender arms around his body. She had been much more affectionate since their near-miss a few days prior, but he'd been either too busy or too tired to appreciate it. Today was no exception. So although he loved the way her soft hands made his skin tingle electrically as she ran them over his well-sculpted muscles, he had to stop her. He gripped her wrists and turned to face her.

"What?" she asked sweetly as she smiled at him.

"I have a headache," he replied.

Anya looked taken aback as he let her go and walked out of the bathroom. "Really?" she called after him in obvious disbelief while he pulled on his pajama pants and climbed into bed.

"Yeah, really. Frost isn't exactly easy to train. She's set in her ways."

Anya emerged a moment later in a silky purple nightgown, looking gorgeous as always with her hair falling in long layers down her back. "Well, maybe you should let someone _else_ train her for a change. Maybe switching it up would help." She slid into the bed and cuddled beside him.

"And who would do that?" he challenged, slightly annoyed by the suggestion. His head was hurting worse now. "She doesn't need help learning how to fight so much as she needs help with her Cryomancy. Last time I looked, no one else around here could teach her about that. Unless you saw another Cryomancer hanging around, in which case I'd be more than happy to take your advice."

Anya rolled her eyes and scooted closer to him. "I don't want to talk about her right now," she said as she draped her arm over his body and began massaging the sore muscles.

Kuai Liang closed his eyes, grateful that she didn't want to argue. His tired body relaxed as her long fingers tenderly kneaded his flesh. There were times Anya got on his nerves, there was no denying that, but it was times like these when he adored her most. No matter who she was taking care of, she always knew just what to do to make her patient feel better. She really was, in his opinion, the best nurse ever. He smiled – blessed physical relief filling him – as she planted a soft kiss on his lips.

But when her hand drifted slowly down and around his waist and a second kiss became more provocative, his eyes snapped open. What part of 'he had a _headache_' had she not understood? Kuai Liang pulled away from her. "Anya, no," he said firmly. "I'm serious. I don't feel well. And I'm very tired."

A shocked expression crossed her face. "Yeah, well, me too," she retorted. "But maybe we'd both feel better if…and well, it's been a while." She moved closer, but this time only hugged his body to hers.

He felt a tad guilty when he felt her heart practically beating out of her chest against his, but he stood his ground. "I know and I'm sorry," he apologized. "But it's going to be a while longer. I need to be better so I can work with Frost tomorrow."

It was like a switch had suddenly flipped in Anya. Now _she _pulled away and sat upright. Her cheeks had flushed a deep, angry red. "Of _course_ that's why you don't want to be with me," she snapped. "I forgot. Your little pet project comes first to everything. What was I thinking?"

Now Kuai Liang sat up, his own anger rising. "You're just mad because you didn't get your way," he retorted. "What are you gonna do now? Stamp your feet until I give in?"

Her pretty eyes hardened. "You're way off base, pal," she hissed. "That is _so_ not why I'm mad at you. And for your information, I don't _care_ if you give in now or not. That ship has sailed!"

The Cryomancer couldn't contain the scoff that escaped him. "That's funny, Anya, considering that ship was never even in the dock to begin with."

"Bet it was in Frost's," she shot back as she glared at him and crossed her arms.

Now it was Kuai Liang's turn to be taken aback. Was she accusing him of…cheating? It was a ridiculous notion. He had no romantic feelings for his pupil at all, only really admiring Frost's prowess as a warrior. If anything, she felt like a sister to him. The Cryomancer knew – because Dr. Anderson told him in private one afternoon when he warned him not to hurt his daughter – that Anya had been betrayed by men in the past and had even become suicidal over one. It, therefore, came as no surprise that she felt insecure in her relationship with him. But her insecurity was silly. And he told her so.

"You're insane," he snapped.

"Am I?" she hissed flatly.

"Yeah," he replied. "You're imagining things. I'm not that sort of person."

"People change."

Now he crossed his arms. "Can't you just accept that I'm tired and that I don't feel good? Why does that automatically mean I'm unfaithful to you?"

"Because she always comes between us and you let her," Anya shot back. "Ever since she got here. It's Frost this and Frost that with you. That's all you talk about anymore. Tonight, you're not in the mood because of her. Tomorrow, you're gonna be gone before I even wake up because you've 'got to get an early start with her.'" She put air quotes around the last part. "God!" she yelped in frustration as she rubbed her temples. "No matter where _we_ are, _she's_ always there too. I feel like I'm in a relationship with you _and_ her, and I'm tired of it! I didn't ask for her."

"Hey, you're the one who said you hoped she won," he countered.

"I was wrong," she growled.

"I'm sorry this isn't living up to your expectations," he sarcastically chided. "I thought you understood that I'd be in charge of an entire clan of warriors, and that I'd be fairly busy all the time-"

"No," she stopped him. "When you were overseeing _everyone_, things were fine between us. It wasn't until you started focusing solely on Frost that we had a problem. You're not just neglecting all your other warriors to be with her, you're neglecting me as well. And I'm over it." Anya paused. "I can't believe how obtuse you are. You can't see what she's doing, can you?"

"She's not doing anything to you, to me, or to us. And I can't believe how insecure _you _are," he retorted. "Just because I don't want to sleep with you tonight."

She sighed in exasperation before she flopped over, turning her back to him. Kuai Liang started to apologize but then decided that he had nothing to apologize for. He'd done nothing wrong, and if she thought so, that was just tough. He laid back down as well, turning his back on her. She could just stew in her stupid, jealous juices for the night. And maybe in the morning, after she'd slept it off, she'd be better.

But Anya promptly yanked the covers off him, leaving him exposed to the cool air as she greedily wrapped them all around her in a cocoon. "Anya," he hissed. "You're acting like a child."

"I'm just cold," she said with mock innocence. "And I figured a big, tough Cryomancer who's practically _made_ of ice wouldn't mind if I took the blankets. Surely, he wouldn't get cold."

Kuai Liang bit his lip and wrinkled his nose in agitation before he sighed. This was beyond stupid. But his stubbornness set in and he refused to let her win this argument. "You're picking the _wrong_ man to play this game with," he snapped. "I grew up in the Himalayas sleeping on a cold floor with nothing but a ruck sack for a blanket. This is _nothing_."

"Well, I'm sure you could find a ruck sack in the kitchens," she replied simply. "Good night."

It irritated him how little his declaration bothered her. She didn't care that her game wasn't going to work on him. He'd hoped he could provoke her into giving in, to admitting defeat. That clearly wasn't going to happen, and he wasn't about to fight over blankets with her. So, trying to be as silent as possible to mask his frustration, he slid from their bed and marched to the large couch in front of the roaring fire on the opposite side of the bedroom. He flopped onto it, his headache blinding now. But even though all he wanted was to go to sleep, insomnia found him now, and it plagued him with thoughts as to why Anya was hell-bent on giving him such a hard time lately. Across the room, he thought he heard her crying softly.

* * *

**_Tehran Tulips Flower Shop_**

**7:51 P.M. EASTERN STANDARD TIME**

The young woman, Khadija Kabal, didn't notice Smoke standing in the shadows after teleporting into the immigrant family's business, observing her as she stood at the check-out counter working. With only nine-point-three minutes until the shop closed for the night, Kadeem Kabal's sister busied herself by arranging a vase of white lilies and roses. Her brother's twin, she bore a striking resemblance to him before Kintaro burned him half to death and left him a scarred mess. Her hair, straight and silky black, framed her mocha-colored skin and fell past her waist even though it was tied back in a tight ponytail. Her eyes were black as well, like shining pieces of onyx, not needing any make-up to highlight their richness. Furthermore, her body was trim and healthy, though lacking significant curves, but it didn't really matter because she wore a conservative green sweater to cover anything she may have had. Somewhere deep inside, Smoke felt attracted to his target.

The cyber-ninja knew, from the files he pulled up on Kabal's family, that their primary target for assassination, Yousef Kabal, had immigrated to New York City from Tehran in the 1970's. There, he met a Mexican woman named Teresa whom he eventually married. The twins – Kadeem and Khadija – were their only children, and when they were four, the family moved to Johnstown, New York, to open their business. But Kadeem, bored as a teenager with small-town living, somehow met Kano and got caught up with the Black Dragon. His criminal record soon became inches thick, and probably would've continued growing had his encounter in Outworld not changed him into a force for good. Khadija, meanwhile, moved back in with her father to take care of him after Teresa died of breast cancer in 2003. The father-daughter team had been working together ever since.

In fact, Yousef was currently in the back office, hunched over his desk doing paperwork while his daughter finished with her arrangement and then started lowering the shop's shades. Smoke, who was waiting for this moment, tapped his wrist-comm to alert Frost. That was her cue to slip on in. Sure enough, within seconds the female Cryomancer walked inside casually.

Noob, he knew, had stayed behind outside in order to keep watch, but he made it abundantly clear that the _kunoichi_ was not to dilly-dally. She was to kill the old man quickly, and take Khadija hostage. It felt silly that such a skillful ninja warrior had to be reminded to kill someone quickly, but the wraith hadn't trusted her since her display at Nightwolf's home in Arizona. But, she'd behaved herself on their missions to kill Sonya Blade's mother, Natalie Stevenson, in San Diego as well as Jackson Brigg's seven-year-old bastard son, Jack Jr., in Houston. She'd been cold, calculating, and efficient, showing no excess of violence as she had that first night. Though, it was obvious that it bothered her.

Now, Frost sauntered into the flower shop and got Khadija's attention immediately. "Hello," the young florist said uncertainly as she eyed the Lin Kuei warrior's unusual attire. "Can I help you?" It was now obvious, judging by the way she averted her eyes when the Cryomancer fearlessly met her gaze, that Khadija was a shy woman afraid of confrontation. In that aspect, she was the opposite of her brother. From what Smoke had seen of him, he had no qualms about speaking his mind.

Frost stepped towards the counter, a predatory expression in her blue eyes, and grinned as she pulled one of the white roses from the vase. "Mmm…" she trailed off contentedly. "Roses smell so good. I'm partial to cherry blossoms, though."

"We don't have those," Khadija said softly.

"That's a shame," the _kunoichi_ replied. "I guess you'll have to do." With that, she thrust out her hand at the woman with reflexes like lightning and grabbed her ponytail. Frost then used it to slam Khadija's head into the Formica counter. As the woman yelped and slumped over, Smoke stepped from his hiding spot in the shadows by a fully-stocked refrigerator used to store flowers.

"Carry her," Frost ordered him as she pinned the stunned florist to the counter.

"Noob Saibot ordered me to kill Yousef Kabal," Smoke replied simply.

"Yeah, well, he and I both saw you lose your stomach for the kill. And while he might not think that's a big deal, _I do_. So I'll deal with Daddy."

Deep inside, he resisted the idea of killing an innocent man just as he had resisted with Caleb. But the wraith had a tight grip on his soul and would not let him loose. However, when Smoke transmitted Frost's proposed change in plans to him through their bond, he sensed that Noob agreed with the Cryomancer. The cyber-ninja vaguely felt grateful that he didn't have to bloody his hands with this unpleasant task.

He lifted Khadija into his arms and followed the _kunoichi_ warrior to the back office. The room was barely bigger than a broom closet, but inside it, an elderly man with round eyeglasses perched on the end of his nose rapidly punched numbers into a calculator before he scribbled down whatever answer it gave him. When Frost leaned sensually against the doorjamb with her arms crossed, Yousef immediately sensed her and looked up.

"Can I help you?" he asked in a fairly thick Persian accent. He hadn't seen Smoke holding his daughter yet.

"Yeah, Haji, we've got your daughter," she smirked as she stepped aside. Now the Iranian man saw the cyber-ninja holding the unconscious Khadija in his arms. Immediately, the man jumped to his feet, his cheeks tinted with red fury.

"How dare you!" he yelled as he pointed his finger at Smoke and lunged from the office. The cyber-ninja watched Frost grin mischievously as she stepped behind Yousef, produced an ice dagger in her hand, and wrapped her free arm around him to steady him. He was stunned by the development, but had no time to think on it because the Cryomancer immediately slit his throat. As with all her other victims, she cut so deep she nearly decapitated him, and his hot blood sprayed onto everything within close proximity, including Smoke and Khadija. A loud gurgling emanated from deep within his chest, and he frantically clawed at the _kunoichi_, but she regarded him indifferently. Ruthlessly, she kicked him backwards into one of the many refrigerators, staining the glass with smears of blood.

"Was that efficient enough for you two?" she said sweetly, though there was an underlying hatred in her tone. "I got straight to the point."

"Yes," Smoke answered simply. At least her speed had been merciful. Though, he knew that wasn't intentional on her part.

"By my count, that's six dead and three captured." Frost rubbed her hands together wickedly. "We saved the best for last."

"You cannot kill Annalise Anderson, and especially while she is in the Lin Kuei temple. Your Grandmaster will not allow it. He will die before he lets you bring harm to her. But even if you could kill her, Quan Chi forbids it."

A dark expression crossed her face. "_Forbids me_?" she repeated angrily. "No one – god, man, or sorcerer – forbids _me_ from doing anything!"

She stormed away from him and Khadija. Smoke turned and followed, though he transmitted her defiance to Noob. Though his processors thought she meant nothing by her explosion, the voice perpetually screaming inside him insisted she had an agenda, and that agenda included killing Sub-Zero's woman, Anya. He was uncertain as to what Frost's issue with the nurse was, but it was blatantly obvious that she had no intention of obeying Quan Chi on this point. Annalise Anderson was in grave danger.


	15. Paradise Lost

**Author's Note: You're all probably going to hate me after this chapter so I'm apologizing in advance LOL  
**

* * *

Anya's head pounded with a steadily growing migraine as she rubbed Baby Orajel on Alexander's first budding tooth, which was resting just below the surface of his gum-line, and listened to him scream in pain. He hadn't been handling his teething well, so Kamala gave up on him completely and foisted all responsibility for him on the nurse. Anya had tried everything – both medical and homeopathic – that she knew of to treat it. She had given him Baby Tylenol, belladonna teething tablets, frozen waffles, and Orajel. But still he fussed like he was being killed, and he'd been at it for three days straight. And she was exhausted.

The only thing that seemed to help, if only slightly, was walking with him. So once she smeared the mouth-numbing gel onto his gums and gave him another dose of Tylenol, she hoisted Alexander into her arms, leaned him against her shoulder, and took off for a long tour around the temple. His wails quieted, and she patted his back gently hoping that maybe today was the day he'd go to sleep long enough for her to take a decent nap. Hell, at this point, she'd settle for only fifteen minutes of shut-eye. She felt like a goddamn zombie at the moment.

Anya hung a right and headed down the Sirius Corridor, named for the Dog Star in Canus Major, where most of the training rooms were located and where she knew Kuai Liang should be. Though, she wasn't really sure why she went this way. She felt angry and resentful towards him at the moment, so she didn't really want to talk to him. She'd been giving him the silent treatment for the past week, but he hadn't seemed to notice what with his attachment to his prize pupil. And the fact that he didn't notice her anger made her angrier still. When she thought about why she was mad at him, she whirled around to go a different route, but as she did, she saw Frost approaching. Just then, Alexander started to cry again.

Anya rubbed his back and then scowled at the white-haired woman. "I guess what they say is true," she hissed. "Dogs and children really _can_ sense evil."

She grinned back. "I'd love to bandy words with you Anya, but I have a date with the Grandmaster. Oh, did I say 'date'? I meant training."

The nurse narrowed her eyes. "Careful, Frost. He might see your dorsal fin moving through the water and know you're not sincere."

"But if you can fake sincerity, you can pretty much fake anything," she replied coldly as she winked. Then she walked past her, making sure to bump her in the shoulder as she headed towards one of the smaller training rooms.

Anya still hated herself for rooting for that woman in the tournament. She regretted it that same day. While Kuai Liang and Cyrax spoke to Hawkins about joining the Lin Kuei as well, she, Jax, and Sonya tried to convince Frost to come with them to the infirmary to get her wounds treated. She refused.

"I _like_ to experience life in all its agony," Frost had said. "I _like_ to feel the pain."

"Well, aren't you just a fun little lollipop triple-dipped in psycho?" Sonya had replied.

The female Cryomancer then sneered as she looked at Jax. "You better keep your bitch on a shorter leash if you want to keep her," she threatened.

Neither Sonya nor Jax liked that very much, and Anya had to step between both women to keep the Ranger from killing the newest member of the Lin Kuei. Then she scowled at Frost. "What exactly gives you the right to come into _my_ house and insult _my _guests?" she demanded to know.

The woman thought that terribly funny, and giggled like a little girl. "Oh, honey, it's not your house. It's _Sub-Zero's_ house, and he wants me here. He's not gonna make me leave. Not now."

"We'll see about that," Anya had told her. "He listens to me."

As it turned out, Anya had been wrong. Kuai Liang hadn't listened to her. She'd told him everything that transpired, and he had brushed her off, citing jealousy. So for the last two months since Frost won the tournament, the two women had been sniping at each other incessantly when he wasn't looking. But in front of him, the female Cryomancer was as sweet as cherry pie. She had him completely snowed.

The more Anya observed Frost's behavior, the more convinced she was that the woman was an honest-to-God psychopath. It was her eyes. One time back at Rockford, Anya's father made her the primary nurse in charge of a serial killer named Darius Hill. Darius liked to capture brunette women with long hair, subdue them by boring holes into their temples with a power drill – which had the same effect as a lobotomy – and then gradually carve hunks of meat from their bones to feast upon until there was virtually no muscle left on their bodies. He got extremely creative with his dishes, and when the police finally caught him twenty-three bodies later, they found an intricate recipe book with stars by the best ones and frowny faces by the worst. For this reason, the media nicknamed him "The Cannibal Chef."

The first time Anya met Darius, her blood ran cold. His eyes leered at her, the only nurse on the staff who fit his victim typology. Though those eyes were sea-foam green, she could've sworn they were black pools of tar instead. Frightened like she'd never been frightened before or since, she ran off the wing, went straight to her father, and begged him to reassign her.

Frost's eyes were just like Darius's had been. Though a pretty sapphire blue that looked an awful lot like Kuai Liang's in terms of color – blue eyes must've been a dominant genetic trait for Cryomancers – Anya was certain they were really black as night. And when Frost looked at her with them, she felt like a wild prey animal backed into a corner by a ferocious predator with no way to escape. So when she made snide remarks to the white-haired woman, she did so from a place of fear and out of a need to defend herself. But when Frost made bitchy remarks to her, the nurse knew she did it for the pure enjoyment of it.

Anya felt lonelier with each day that passed, and with sadness she had begun to dream of leaving the temple. It was pathetic, really, that the only reason she hadn't yet was because she wanted to prove her father, the esteemed Dr. Anderson, wrong. He hadn't known the whole truth about where his daughter was going since he didn't know Kuai Liang's real profession. Anya had only told him that he was an operative working with the military, and that she was quitting her job at Rockford and moving with him overseas. Naturally concerned about her welfare, he blew up at her and they'd had the biggest shouting match in the history of their relationship, with him insisting that if things went south she'd have nowhere to go. Anya had insisted that wouldn't happen, that Kuai Liang was different, and her fervor had been so strong that it finally swayed her father into giving her his blessing. So she couldn't just show up on his doorstep and admit defeat. Not after winning such a huge victory.

She could go to Maggie, but that would be awkward, not only because the woman was her boyfriend's mother. The Irishwoman hadn't been happy about the move to the North Pole either, especially since the two weren't married. She was quite old-fashioned that way. But it didn't look like she'd be getting her wish about her son and her pseudo-daughter tying the knot. And Anya just didn't know how to tell her that it was because some crazy woman had come between her and Kuai Liang.

As Anya suddenly realized that's exactly what happened, bitter tears sprang to her eyes, so she held Alexander closer. "Na-na-na-na-na," he started babbling in her ear, and now she couldn't contain her own sobs. Exhausted, she collapsed to her knees and set him on the floor as she bawled into the palms of her hands.

Amazingly enough, Tomas's infant son didn't start crying again as well. Instead, he grabbed her sweater cardigan sleeve and used it to pull himself up. He squealed in delight, always so tickled with himself when he stood on his own, and he prompted Anya to laugh at him as he held her sleeve with an iron grip. Then he beamed at her with those pretty gray eyes framed with the longest black lashes she'd ever seen.

"Glad to see _you're _feeling better," she sniffed. He squealed. She couldn't help but hug him then. "You're getting so big," she mumbled, feeling love for the baby swell through her. She loved all the babies here, _all_ the children really, and she wanted to take them all with her when she left. But how could she? She didn't even know where _she_ was going to go.

Alexander kissed her on the cheek then, but it was the way babies give kisses, with a wide open mouth and tons of slobber dribbling down his chin. She grimaced slightly as she wiped the drool off her face, then tousled his wavy walnut hair. "Oh, I see how it is," she said to him. "You're trying to sweet-talk me, aren't you?"

"Na-na-na-na-na," he said in response as he bobbed up and down in excitement. Anya was grateful for the mood swing. Evidently, the teething medicine finally started working.

Suddenly, Kuai Liang came around the nearby corner and spotted the two of them in the middle of the empty hallway. "Oh, hey, you're here," he said.

She raised a disgusted eyebrow. "Yes, it may shock you to know that I am, in fact, still here."

"Well, you'll do," he said, ignoring the flippant tone in her voice.

"Wow, you sure know how to make a girl feel special," she said in annoyance as she got to her feet again and picked up Alexander once more. Then, before the Grandmaster reached her, she took off walking once again.

He quickly caught up with her and looked at her. "Have you been crying?" he asked.

She glared at him. "What gave it away?" she snapped.

"Please. It's obvious that's what you've been doing."

"So why'd you ask?"

"I was being polite."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, taking care of a colicky baby for three days without any sleep _will_ make a person cry."

Her sarcasm was lost on him. "Oh. Well, will you tell Cyrax I want him to take over my afternoon class today?"

"Why?" she said slowly, already knowing the answer but wanting to hear him say it anyhow.

"Because I'm teaching Frost something kind of complicated, and I want to have enough time to do it right," he replied.

"Here's an idea," she began. "Why don't _you _tell him that?"

"Because she's waiting for me right now," he told her as if she'd just asked a dumb question.

Anya stormed into the nursery with him in tow and handed Alexander to a bewildered Kamala. He immediately began to wail again, and although she felt guilty for that, she felt a serious argument brewing and had no intention of putting him in the middle of it. "You know what, Kuai Liang? I am _not _your secretary. Go tell him your own damn self," she snapped.

Now it was his turn to scowl. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me," she shot back as she marched to their room.

"What is your problem?" he demanded to know as he closed the door behind them.

"You!" she shouted.

"Me?"

"Yeah, you!"

"What did I do?"

"Let's start with the fact that you didn't even know there was a problem until I yelled at you just now," she replied as she started rummaging through her closet to find a suitcase.

"Oh, this – whatever it is – is an ongoing thing?"

"Idiot, I've been giving you the silent treatment all week!"

"You have?"

"My point exactly."

"No, see, in order to say that, you would have needed to actually _make_ a point," he retorted.

"Fine. You want a point? I'll give you a point. Ever since you brought that _bitch_ into the temple, you've forgotten I exist. That is, unless you need me to fetch something for you, or deliver messages for you. And then suddenly I'm your best friend again."

"Oh, I get it," he rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "You're still jealous. You know what that stems from? Insecurity. And I'll tell you something else, Annalise. I'm _tired _of it. Grow up already."

She felt like he'd just slapped her in the face. She stopped what she was doing and faced him, feeling the daggers spring from her eyes. "No, _Kuai Liang_, it doesn't mean I'm insecure. I gave up my family, my friends, and my job to come here with you. I've done everything in my power to help you out with this little pet project of yours. And on top of that, I take care of eight babies and nearly 100 children like a mother. Because I _care _about you. But you treat me like I'm your employee who you occasionally sleep with when you're bored, and even then not so much. Just so you can have a little more one on one time with that psycho. And you have the audacity to tell _me_ to grow up?"

"Quit acting like a martyr," he snapped. "And quit calling Frost crazy. She's not crazy."

"Oh, wake up, pal! You're the only one who doesn't see through the sweet and innocent act. Anyone who's met her for more than a minute sees it. It's not just me. Jax and Sonya have told you so too, remember?"

"For one, she does _not _act sweet and innocent. She tries my patience more than you know. And I'm supposed to listen to Sonya, who I'm convinced is nuts herself? And I'm beginning to think you are too. Maybe all that time working at Rockford has rubbed off on you."

Anya felt her mouth form into an astonished o-shape. "I _cannot_ believe you just said that to me!"

"Well, I think it might be true."

"Says the person whose mother spent years of her life there!" she shot back. "You know, they say mental disease is inherited. I've got no crazy in my family tree, pal. But you have tons of fruit loops in yours."

"Don't you bring her into this!"

"Hey, I'm just saying that the strait-jacket doesn't fall far from the tree."

"Big talk for someone who spent a few days on suicide watch in the hospital," he said. Once more, shock flooded her. "How'd you know about that?" she asked.

"Your dad told me."

She screeched in irritation. "Argh! I hate that guy sometimes!"

"I think he was trying to scare me off," Kuai Liang told her. "I'm beginning to wonder if I should've listened."

"Okay, I can't deal with this anymore," she announced. "If that's how you feel, I should just leave."

He sighed in frustration. "You know, you can really be a bitch sometimes," he announced.

It was the single most hurtful thing he'd ever said to her, and when the initial pain of it subsided moments later, it left fury in its wake. She slowly marched to him. Then, without a word, she slapped him as hard as she could. He barely flinched, but it was the thought that counted. Then, with a furious grunt, she stormed out of their room, angry tears spilling down her cheeks.

"Where do you think you're going?" he demanded to know. "Anya?" he yelled when she ignored him and took off running. She didn't want him following her, so she slammed the door between them and quickly jammed it shut with one of the high-backed decorative chairs just outside their door. She'd always wondered why Himavat put them there, but at the moment, she was silently thanking him for it.

Anya didn't wait around to listen to Kuai Liang shout her name and beat his fists on the door. She knew he'd bust out quickly, and she wanted to be gone by then. She flew to the portal room and immediately saw Cyrax.

"Quick, open the portal to Jax's base!" she yelled.

As expected, he didn't argue. He knew she never made such unusual requests without good reason, and she always had the Grandmaster's permission to come and go as she pleased. Instantly, he punched buttons on a sophisticated keyboard. A split second later, a swirling green vortex appeared, twisting slowly through space-time, and without another word she bolted through. For a split second, a gelatinous fluid enveloped her, and she imagined she couldn't breathe, but almost as soon as it devoured her it spat her out on the other side.

"Anya?" Jax called from a nearby computer station. "What-"

"No time to explain," she said hurriedly.

"Hey, Anya!" Sonya called as she trotted over to them. "Where are you going in such a hurry? Getting checked for slut rabies?"

"Shut up, Sonya," she snapped as she left the hanger where the Army had erected their portal gateway. Both Rangers followed.

"Whoa, baby girl, what's wrong with you?" Jax asked.

"I don't feel like talking about it," she answered. "I just need to get out of here. Is my motorcycle still around?"

"Right where you left it. Key's hidden in the exhaust pipe."

"Thanks."

"Come on, what's this about?" Sonya prodded.

"Let's just say I've come to the conclusion that Frost sleeps from the ceiling, wrapped in a cocoon of her own wings."

"Well, shit, Anya! You knew that the first day you met her."

"Yeah, well I really know it now that she's broken up me and Kuai Liang."

"Damn," Jax muttered.

"Alright, I'm gonna go kick his ass!" Sonya yelled.

"Well, feel free," Anya said. "He's probably right behind me. I didn't exactly wait for his blessing to leave."

"I'm on it," the blond woman said as she turned around and headed the way she came. Jax immediately followed her.

As soon as they left her, Anya broke into a run towards the parking lot. She kept her head down and didn't really look at anyone, and so she bumped into a ton of people on the way. She vaguely noticed how she knocked a thick stack of papers from someone's hands, and was met with some obscene words and probably gestures as well. But finally, blessed sunlight and fresh air met her face. And then, she ran into yet another person.

"Hey!" a familiar, raspy voice cried.

She looked up and recognized the jet-black breathing mask as well as the person who wore it. "Kabal?" she said, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I was about to ask you that," he chuckled. "Shouldn't you be romping around the North Pole with your polar bear?"

She scoffed but said nothing in response. Instead, she looked to her feet sadly. He wasn't her polar bear anymore. She started to cry again right there in the middle of the sidewalk.

"Hey, what's the matter?" he said gently as he lifted her chin with a gloved finger. "You look like you're having a rough day. You look exhausted."

For some reason, Anya felt angry all over again. She looked up at him. "Yes, Kabal, I'm having a rough day. And I'd love to go home and sleep it off, but Kuai Liang's satanic protégée has taken over my home and no one in their right mind would dare enter that place." And before she knew it, she was spilling her guts to him even though she knew she didn't have time for it. And then to her surprise, she wrapped her arms around him so he'd hug her, all while literally crying on his shoulder. It felt good to be held.

"Hey, it's okay," he told her as he patted her back. "I _knew_ you were too good for that guy."

Suddenly, Kabal was yanked out of her arms and she was left standing there shocked as she saw Kuai Liang throw him to the concrete. "I warned you!" he yelled at the masked man a second before he knelt down and punched him so hard that he cracked his respirator.

"Stop it!" she shouted as a crowd of people started to gather.

"And you!" the Cryomancer yelled at Anya, now looking at her while Kabal groaned in pain on the cement. She jumped. "You locked me in the room just so you could come see _him_." He said 'him' like a swear word. His eyes flashed with icy rage. "You're accusing me of doing God knows what with Frost, but you ran straight to the arms of another man when things got rough between us? Maybe you should sleep with him already and get it out of your system so you'll stop pestering me about Frost."

Anya couldn't believe what she was hearing, and it pissed her off. "Hold the phone, Kuai Liang!" she cried sarcastically. "Are you suggesting that if I sleep with Kabal, I won't have to deal with problems like this? Because I'm seriously considering taking that hit. I mean, honestly, what do you think he's like post-game?"

He scowled. "Why not? It's obviously what _you_ want. You were just looking for any excuse, weren't you?"

"I suppose that's true," she shot back. "I couldn't possibly just want you."

"No, you couldn't," he replied. "There's got to be a reason you've been so bitchy lately."

Not to be outdone, Kabal got to his feet and stood between Kuai Liang and Anya, waving his hand at her to keep her quiet. "Cool story, bro," he began. "Wanna hear mine now? It's a fairytale too. Once upon a time, nobody gave a shit. The end." He pulled out his hook-swords as the Cryomancer wheeled on him once more.

"Please," he snarled as he spun on a leg and kicked them out of Kabal's hands with the other foot. They clattered harmlessly to the ground several feet away.

"Back off," Anya hissed, hating herself for the drama now rapidly unfolding in front of all these bystanders. She shouldn't have stopped to chit-chat, she should've just kept running towards her motorcycle. She stepped to the side with a defiant scowl. "This isn't his fault. This is _your_ fault. You're so damn snowed by Frost that you can't see your nose in front of your face. She's _not_ a good person, Kuai Liang. And the fact that you think so _pisses me off_."

"You're wrong about her."

"Why? Because she's so darn sweet and says yes, and please, and thank you Grandmaster?"

"No, because she doesn't have a track record of disloyalty to me like you do."

Exasperation flooded her. "I'm not disloyal-"

"You're an asshole, Snowman," Kabal told him, cutting her off again. "You know, I thought Anya was exaggerating a bit, and I was on your side, dude, but she wasn't making shit up, was she?"

"Stay out of it, you bastard!" he yelled as he lunged at the detective.

But Kabal darted to the side and took off running in a blur in a circle around him to confuse him. The ruse only worked for a moment, but then the Cryomancer calmly held out his palm, anticipated where the man would step and at what time, and sprayed the ground with ice. As expected, a split second later he slipped and crashed hard into a nearby tree. He slumped to the ground with a groan. Before the masked man could get up again, Kuai Liang stalked towards him, picked him up by his trench coat collar, and punched him in the face again. This time, a little cloud of white gas escaped from a punctured hose line connecting his mask to the oxygen tank on his back. He gasped frantically, trying to gulp down as much air as he could.

"Leave him alone!" Anya yelled at the Cryomancer as she grabbed his arm and yanked on him tenaciously, but he did not let go of the now choking cop.

He looked at her with an expression that was both wounded and angry. "I can't believe you'd rather be with him than me," he said.

"I don't!" she yelped, the tears flowing once more. "I love _you_."

"I know what I saw," he insisted angrily, tightening his grip on Kabal's collar. "Unless that was some childish little game to get even with me for whatever it is you think I'm doing with Frost."

"Let him go," she begged. "I wasn't playing games. I wasn't trying to make you mad-"

"Are you sure about that?" he interrupted as he tightened his grip on Kabal further, lifting him off the ground. He looked at the fading detective. "Because I've gotta say, it worked if you were. But you?" he said to his victim. "You _knew_ better. I warned you to stay away from her."

He promptly threw his captive to the ground. Then he produced a kori sword and poised to chop his opponent in half. Anya yelped in terror as she threw herself over Kabal's body to shield him from Kuai Liang's fury. "Go away!" she cried.

"Move out of my way!" the Cryomancer roared. "I mean it, Anya!"

"No! I'm not gonna let you kill him because you're pissed off at me." She clutched Kabal's gasping body even tighter, and stubbornly grunted when she felt Kuai Liang's strong hand try to pull her up by her arm. "Let me go!" she shrieked, crying now. God, things had spun so out of control so fast.

"That's enough!" they both heard Sonya yell as the familiar sound of a pistol arming cut through the air. Anya looked up and saw her friend as well as Jax both aiming their guns at Kuai Liang's head. "You need to calm down now, Snow White," she ordered. "You're scaring the shit out of your girlfriend and you've nearly killed Kabal."

"Mind your own business, Sonya," he snapped as he stepped back slowly.

"I would, except you brought your business to my house, and I don't appreciate that at all."

"Be cool, bro," Jax told him. "I know you know how to do that better than anyone."

"Kabal needs a medic," Anya told them, crying. This was all her fault. She should've just stayed at the temple and suffered in silence. That was a crappy way to live, but at least it didn't get any of her friends killed in the process. God, what had she done?

"We know, baby girl, we've got some on the way," he replied.

"Oh, good, they can patch him up so he'll be right as rain for you in no time," Kuai Liang hissed at her. She looked at him and cried harder, all the anger and sorrow that had accumulated during the past few months exploding from her at once. Defeated, she hung her head and barely saw Kabal's struggling body through her hot tears. Everything had been going so well until Frost joined the Lin Kuei. And now, her life felt more out of control than it ever had.

"Shut your mouth before I shut it for you," Sonya snapped.

"Why don't you put that gun down and make me?" he challenged.

"Okay, why don't you all shut up?" Jax yelled. "Now it's obvious you both have had a bad day. Look where we're at now. So why don't we all calm down and take a deep breath. Go to separate corners to clear your heads. And then maybe you can talk about it tomorrow and work it out."

Kuai Liang looked at the sword in his hands and then to Kabal and Anya. He promptly threw it to the sidewalk where it smashed into pieces. Then he hung his head in shame, the anger clearly receding. "You're right, Jax. I'm sorry." Then, as the Rangers both lowered their weapons, he looked to her. "Ahn, I'm sorry," he told her. "Please. None of this was necessary. Will you come home?"

Anya slowly stood as the Army medics now arrived and started working on Kabal. She trembled as she thought about it. It was what she wanted more than anything in the world. But she wasn't about to go back to a place where she was bullied incessantly by a woman she hated, and ignored by the man she loved who was supposed to love her in return. She deserved better than that, and she wasn't about to put up with that sort of misery just so she didn't have to be alone. Her head drooped, and she rubbed her eyes in exhaustion.

"I'm sorry too," she finally said crossing her arms defensively. "But no. As long as Frost is there, I won't be." She was afraid he'd flip out again, so she flinched, waiting. Instead, he stood there staring at her for a long moment, his blue eyes bewildered and deeply hurt. Anya's own heart lurched when she saw the pained expression on his face, and she felt the overwhelming urge to run to him and say she didn't mean it, that she _would _come home with him. But she stifled it. Then, he finally turned around and marched back into the base the same way he'd came, saying nothing to anyone.

But unbeknownst to Kuai Liang or any of the others, Frost watched the scene from the shadowy awning of the portal building. A devious grin tenaciously clung to her face. The moment she'd longed for, the moment she'd spent entire nights daydreaming about, had finally arrived. Anya was away from the herd, away from the temple where Sub-Zero could and would protect her, and completely vulnerable to attack. Frost rubbed her hands together greedily. It was time to kill the pretty little nurse who'd won the Lin Kuei Grandmaster's heart. Without a word, she silently leapt from the awning into the thick bushes and then stealthily followed dear Annalise to her motorcycle.


	16. Prey

**Author's Note: I'm terribly sorry, everyone, for what I'm about to do to you...**

* * *

In spite of her best efforts to avoid the parental figure front, Anya had found her way to Maggie's mansion, and had been sobbing incessantly since she'd arrived. To her surprise, Kuai Liang's mother had been sympathetic to her pain, but had called them both idiots for throwing away the best thing that ever happened to either of them. Anya couldn't bring herself to disagree. But she couldn't go back to the Lin Kuei temple and ask for his forgiveness. And she wasn't even sure she needed it. She _hadn't_ been wrong about Frost. So now, she stretched across the sofa, resting her head on Maggie's lap, and felt her eyes grow heavy with the kind of exhaustion only brought on by hysterics.

"You know, Babby," Maggie said in a gentle voice, "no matter what happens between you and my son, you always have a place in my home. That's never going to change." She patted Anya's head reassuringly before she pushed locks of hair away from her face.

Anya couldn't bring herself to answer because her mind was now stuck on the what ifs, as in, what if things were never right between her and Kuai Liang again? Some part of her – okay, a _big _part of her if she was being honest with herself – truly believed he was the man that fate had picked for her to spend her life with. She truly believed he was her soulmate. But what if she had been wrong? What if he didn't care about her like she cared about him? What if he never had? She choked back more tears at the possibility. Maggie, highly intuitive on matters such as this, continued stroking her hair.

"I think we should have an Irish coffee," she announced. "Nothing settles the nerves like a good whiskey."

"No, I don't think so," Anya declined tiredly. The last few days of sleeplessness coupled with her unstable emotional state were rapidly catching up to her. "Remember the last time you got me drunk? I wrecked my bike."

"Yeah, but this time, you're not going anywhere. I really don't expect Kuai Liang to come barging through that door this time either."

The nurse sniffed. "I suppose not." Though, she kind of hoped he did. Maybe after the two had taken some to think, they could resolve this somehow because right now, she felt worse than she did when she was a teenager and Kellen had cheated on her with Emmie. Though she was past any suicidal thoughts, at the moment, Anya didn't believe she could live through the night without him sleeping beside her, let alone the rest of her life.

"Trust me," the older woman began as if reading her thoughts, rubbing her back. "It'll help you sleep. I think that has been your biggest problem these last few days. It's always hard to see the world clearly when your eyes are barely open to begin with."

Anya felt new tears burn her eyes, so she buried her face in the woman's khaki cargo pants. "I love you, Maggie," she mumbled as she began to cry again. God, why wouldn't the tears stop already?

Her pseudo-mother wrapped her arms around her and hugged her the best way she could. "I love you too, Babby." She patted her on the back. "Let me go make that for you." Maggie slid out and gently rested Anya's head on a cushion, and the young nurse found herself dozing off before the other woman had completely left the parlor.

Anya wasn't entirely certain how long she'd been in troubled sleep before she heard a crash in the kitchen. Startled, she jolted upright and whipped her head around. "Maggie?" she called. "Are you okay?"

There was no answer. That was odd. Then again, she probably had just gone out back to her garden for something. Maybe for some fresh mint for their coffee. Anya slowly got to her feet to investigate anyway, though, and called out again. "Maggie? I heard a crash. What happened?" Still no answer. She definitely had to be outside. Anya staggered into the kitchen like a zombie.

"Hello, sweetness!" a familiar voice called, jarring the nurse from her sleepiness. Anya immediately darted her eyes around and saw the speaker. In the corner by the back door, Frost stood with her hand clamped firmly around Maggie's mouth and held a sharp ice dagger to the woman's throat. Anya gasped and reached for her pseudo-mother, but Frost abruptly stopped her. "Uh-uh! Don't move, pretty," she said. Her eyes were like tar.

"Frost?" she finally croaked in fear and disbelief, holding up her arms. "Does Kuai Liang know you're here? I'm not sure he'd appreciate you putting a knife to his mother's throat."

The white-haired woman smirked. "No, I'm afraid not," she said. "I'm here on my own. Went through his stuff and stole his portal key. Used it to sneak out. Saw the perfect opportunity to take you two out with one shot, and I decided to capitalize on it." Frost paused and glowered at Anya. "Just weren't fit to keep a Cryomancer, were you?"

Sudden anger welled up inside the nurse. "He'll never love you like he loves me," she shot back furiously.

The _kunoichi_ thought that terribly funny. "You're too easy," she giggled as she loosened her grip on Maggie's mouth. "Love is a trick nature plays to get us to reproduce. That's one thing the old Lin Kuei got right. I want no part of it. Especially with Sub-Zero."

"Because he's your brother," the Irishwoman volunteered when her lips were free.

A pleased expression crossed Frost's face. "My, aren't _you_ the clever girl?" she said as she looked at her mother and rested her head on her shoulder in amusement. "How on earth did you know?"

"I didn't for sure until just now," the woman replied. "But I suspected because you look just like your father. You always did."

"He's your brother?" Anya repeated. Anya's heart lurched at the revelation. Of course! Why hadn't she seen it before? All the signs were there. "But why…why would you act like-"

"Act like what?" the white-haired woman finished. "Act like I wanted to seduce him? I think the better question would be why _wouldn't_ I want to? It was torturing you. And it tore you two little lovebirds apart. Now, you're both suffering as a result. And at the end of the day, that's all I really want out of life. Well, that and to see _you_ dead."

"Don't talk like that," Maggie admonished. "That's something evil people would say, and you're not evil, Sarah. You're just confused."

Frost sneered and patted her mother's chestnut hair with her free hand. "Perhaps you're right, Mommy. In that case, can I get your opinion on something? The other day, I snuck into this house and met this little boy. We didn't really talk much because he was two. But he seemed like a nice kid, you know? Then I drove an ice dagger into his chest and cut his throat so deep I almost chopped it off completely. Does that make me a bad person? Be honest, now."

"You can tell me all the horrible things you've done, Sarah, and I won't stop loving you," the older woman replied. "You're my daughter. That won't ever change."

A furious expression now replaced the amused one. "Oh, that makes _all _the difference. And now we can be the best of friends!" Frost immediately spat on Maggie's face.

"You fucking bitch," Anya growled, taking a step forward, but the female Cryomancer dug her ice dagger deeper into the Irishwoman's neck. Tiny red dots appeared on Maggie's throat as Frost glared at her enemy.

"Oh, by the way Anya, I just want you to know that before I kill you, I'm going to make you squeal like a pig," she replied matter-of-factly.

"I don't understand why you're behaving this way," Maggie stated. "Sarah-"

"My name is _Miyuki_!" the Cryomancer shrieked. "And stop pretending like you actually know anything about me. Stop pretending like you know what my father did to me when he took me away. What he did to my _real_ family." Her face crumpled, and for a brief moment Anya thought that Frost was going to cry. But she recomposed herself as quickly as she'd lost control.

Suddenly, a black vortex appeared where the large pantry sat beside the refrigerator, and in a moment, both Noob Saibot and Smoke stepped through. Anya shrank back against the stove in terror. She'd seen what all three of the warriors were capable of, and now she knew that she was going to die at their hands. She couldn't possibly hope to defeat one of them, let alone all of them.

_I'm sorry, Kuai Liang_, she thought, sadness over their bitter break-up flooding her. She wished she could at least leave this world _after_ she apologized for everything she'd said and done, and told him she loved him one last time. Maybe even steal one last kiss. But that was obviously not in the cards. Still, the nurse could do everything in her power to keep their focus off Maggie. If she was going to die anyway, she could at least do that much for the two people she loved the most in the world. Anya began formulating a plan, eyeing the kitchen archway that led to a corridor that led to the front door. Outside, her motorcycle waited for her return.

"What are you doing?" Noob hissed at Frost. "Quan Chi gave us orders."

"Why am I not surprised you're working for that bastard?" the nurse muttered as she glanced at Smoke. Of the three, she was actually the least afraid of him even though he'd nearly killed Kuai Liang on several occasions without batting a proverbial eyelash. He was just a cyborg. He didn't choose to do evil. On the other hand, the wraith was a demon, and Frost was almost certainly a serial killer.

"You're both being rude," Frost admonished them. "Have you even introduced yourself to our hostess? Mommy, this is Smoke. Surely you've heard of him. Poor Sub-Zero's BFF who got turned into a robot." Then she nodded to the wraith. "And _that's_ Noob Saibot. You probably don't recognize him now, but you might recognize his old name, Mommy. That's Bi-han."

Maggie took one look at him and started to cry just as he repeated in confusion, "Mommy?" His tone indicated he already knew who the Irishwoman was to him, but was surprised that Frost called her that.

The Cryomancer immediately detected his misunderstanding. "Oh, did I forget to mention that she gave birth to me too, Noob? Or should I say 'Brother'?"

Anya watched as Bi-han, who surely had the best poker face in the world, crossed his arms and glared at her with icy resolve. Though his skin was black like death and his eyes white and rheumy, his stern countenance reminded her of Kuai Liang. When she studied all three Cryomancer siblings, she decided they could've been identical triplets save for minor differences here and there.

"What's become of you, Babby?" Maggie wailed in her daughter's vicious grip. Her eyes never strayed from Noob's masked face.

"Silence yourself, woman," the wraith barked indifferently. "I'm not your son, nor am I her brother." He nodded to Frost as the Irishwoman cried harder. She slumped in her daughter's arms.

"Oh, Brother, is that any way to talk to our Mommy?" Frost asked, pulling Maggie back up. She and Noob were completely focused on each other, having temporarily forgotten Anya on the other side of the kitchen. The nurse's heart pounded in her chest as she imagined what she'd do to get the three warriors to chase her. She slowly slipped her hands into the side pocket of her long sweater jacket where she knew she'd deposited her motorcycle keys. As expected, she felt the jagged edges and looping key ring with her fingertips. If she was going to do this, she had to be fast. Nothing could go wrong. Her heart beat harder.

"What's your objective, here?" Noob countered, ignoring her comment. "We both know it's not to complete Quan Chi's mission."

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean," she said sweetly, but she lied. She glanced at Anya. "I just came to take out the trash."

Anya bristled at being compared to trash, but she knew there was nothing she could do about it. Instead of countering with an equally bitchy remark, the nurse seized _her_ window of opportunity and bolted for the front door, screaming, "Maggie, get away!" She may not have known any style of martial art, but she had always been a fast runner, and she intended to put it to good use. Behind her, she heard Frost shriek an inhuman, guttural sound before she gave chase. But quickly, the nurse raced outside and hopped on her motorcycle, vaguely noticing another one not as nice sitting nearby.

"What the hell?" she muttered, not wasting time to think about it. Her Harley sports bike started immediately, and she raced down the lane, vaguely remembering how the last time she sped down the dirt road, she'd crashed into a bush. But she'd been drunk then, and crying, and felt like she had little reason to live. Now, Anya knew she had to live long enough to get the triad of terror away from Maggie. At the moment, it was her sole purpose. She glanced back at the house and was pleased when she saw Frost hop on the other bike and race after her.

* * *

Noob Saibot looked around and felt a strange sense of nostalgia overcome him, not really caring how Frost had run after their brother's girlfriend shrieking. This was his mother's family's house, and he'd grown up here. At least until that cold night in November when An Zhi stole him, Kuai Liang, and Sarah. He hadn't returned since then. And it was all he cared about at the moment.

As the wraith studied the kitchen, his childhood, which felt like lifetimes ago, flooded back to the forefront of his memory. On the doorframe by the back door, he saw the long hash marks etched into the wood where his mother charted his and Kuai Liang's growth, and then penciled in dates beside them. Although the dates had faded almost to the point of illegibility, Noob couldn't help but notice the giant gap between him and his brother. It was a gap that never went away, even to their adulthood. Sarah was nowhere to be found on that doorframe. She was only an infant when An Zhi kidnapped them; she hadn't even been able to stand yet to be measured next to her brothers.

Frost's declaration had astonished Noob, though in retrospect he didn't know why he was surprised. She looked exactly like their father, even to her prematurely white hair. An Zhi's hair had gone completely white by the time Bi-han was twenty. But apart from that, they had eerily similar personalities. Though their father kept his arrogance and emotions in better check than Frost, he too had a cruel streak unmatched by anyone else in the world, perhaps even by Grandmaster Oniro. Kuai Liang, Noob knew, had tried hard for a year to find their long lost sister. It was both funny and tragic that she'd been right under his nose this whole time, and he never even suspected. How had that even happened? Then again, he hadn't considered it either. It just never occurred to him, even when she revealed her Cryomancy, that she could be his baby sister, Sarah.

"We have orders to kill Margaret Sullivan," Smoke announced, breaking through Noob's reverie.

The wraith studied the woman who was now sobbing on the floor. Though she'd aged considerably since he'd last seen her, his mother still carried a vibrancy of life inside her that made her seem young. And for some strange reason, to his eyes, she was still the most beautiful woman in the world. Even Saibot couldn't quell the surge of pity for her that rushed through Noob's heart.

"Stand up, old woman," he commanded, though his voice was gentler than he intended.

Maggie slowly obeyed and looked at him, her green eyes wet and red-rimmed. "My poor Babby," she whispered. "My poor Jamie. I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you from your father. What happened to you is my fault as much as his."

Something lurched in Noob's heart. It almost felt like guilt. No, that wasn't it. It was…relief. He vaguely remembered how, after An Zhi stole him, he'd frequently wondered if she still cared about him. The only thing in the world that terrified him had been the thought that his precious mother had moved on and forgotten about him. But now, as he stood in her kitchen, under orders to kill her because Quan Chi found her death beneficial somehow, Noob realized that not a day went by that she hadn't thought of _him_. And now, for the first time since his death, he felt ashamed of the monster he'd become.

The wraith looked at Smoke. "We're going to lie and tell Quan Chi that she wasn't home," he declared. "We've killed enough people for the sorcerer. I know you know what I mean, Tomas."

The cyber-ninja said nothing at the sound of his real name, but Noob sensed the relief buried deep within. He merely looked back to Maggie. "We should find Frost then," he announced.

"Agreed," he replied. The wraith held up his hand and summoned a portal into existence. It swirled black with streaks of dark purple.

"Wait, Jamie, don't go yet!" Maggie yelped as she lunged forward and grabbed Noob by his arm. "You've got to help Anya. Please! Sarah…she's going to kill her. And it'll destroy your brother if she dies. It'll destroy _me_ as well."

"That is not my problem," he said coldly. Though, he remembered that it really _was_.

"Please!" she begged. "Do you remember when he was born and you _promised_ me you'd always help me take care of him?"

Noob thought about it. Yes, he did remember. An Zhi brought him to the hospital where he found his mother cradling his newborn brother in her arms as she rocked him in a rocking chair. He hadn't been impressed with the spindly baby, but he'd loved his mother so much that just to make her happy, he had loved his brother the same way she did. Especially when she told him how much little Connor would look up to him as they both grew. It was a responsibility of the utmost importance, and one he took very seriously even as young as he was. And he'd sworn to his mother he'd watch out for his brother in every way possible.

"I know you don't care about us anymore," she began, and Noob felt another twinge of guilt. "But just this last time, will you help him? Protect him _and_ her from your sister?"

"I'll see what I can do," he replied as he motioned for Smoke to walk through the portal. He started to leave as well, but before he crossed the vortex's threshold, he looked back at Maggie, who stood with her hands clasped to her chest in worry and sorrow. "Goodbye…Mom," he added quietly. She smiled as fresh tears suddenly sprang from her eyes. And then, he let his portal envelop him before she could reply.

* * *

"911 operator. Please state your emergency."

The female voice on the phone sounded entirely too calm for Anya's liking. She knew that the woman had been trained to keep a level head for the callers' benefit, but a huge part of her brain longed for the woman to reply as hysterically as she felt.

As a rule of thumb, the nurse never talked on her cellphone while driving, and especially while driving her motorcycle, but she figured that as long as she was going to die anyway, she might as well do something useful before that happened. She was going to use the 911 recording system to get a message to both Stryker and Kuai Liang. At least, if she lived long enough. So she had mounted her phone to her hands-free system only moments after she took off from Maggie's house, put it on speaker, and dialed.

"I need you to patch me through to Kurtis Stryker. It's an emergency!" Anya announced as she wove through oncoming traffic in a dangerous attempt to crash Frost. It didn't work. "Dammit!" she screamed in frustration.

"Ma'am? Are you alright? Do you need assistance?"

"You're damn right I need assistance!" she yelled at the lady. "I'm on my Harley and I'm driving east on Highway 3. There's this woman with white hair chasing after me on her motorcycle. And while I'd love to sit here and explain it to you, I'd really rather explain it to Kurtis Stryker more. So patch me through!"

"Do you know this woman?"

"Dammit, patch me through already!"

"I'm sorry, I can't do that."

Anya glanced back and saw Frost closing the gap. Around them, thick traffic going significantly slower honked at them and raised their middle fingers. _Fuck you_, she thought quite viciously. She raced onto the shoulder. Not surprisingly, her pursuer followed.

"Jesus fucking Christ!" the nurse yelled at the operator. "It's important. I'm not making a social call. This woman wants to kill me! Do you understand?"

"I've got the police en route!"

"And it'll be too late!" she screamed as she wove back into traffic when she came across a gap between cars. Suddenly, a large ball of ice sailed by her head so close that Anya felt a lock of hair solidify into ice. She shrieked.

"Ma'am! You need to calm down!"

"Easy for you to say!" the nurse retorted in terror. She strained to control her fearful tears. _Be brave_, she commanded herself. _Be brave like Kuai Liang. You've got to get a message to him_.

"Ma'am? Are you still there?"

Anya punched the accelerator hard and watched as the speedometer jumped to ninety miles an hour. It was an unsafe speed to drive a motorcycle at, and especially without a helmet or other protective gear. But it didn't really matter to her at the moment. What mattered was drawing Frost and her partners away from Maggie.

"Ma'am?" the operator repeated.

"Listen to me," Anya began calmly. "You need to send every cop you can to 7780 Sycamore Road now. The lady who lives there, Maggie Sullivan, is in danger. I think someone's going to try to kill her, if they haven't already."

"Who? Who's going to kill her?" the operator prodded.

"If you can't patch me through to Stryker, will you at least give him this message for me?" she continued, ignoring the plea for information that she didn't know how to give. Where to begin? "I know you're recording this. So just…play him this tape, will you? He'll understand what I'm talking about."

Frost was closing the gap again and lobbing ice at her, so Anya increased her speed to a hundred. Everything was sailing past her in a blur now. "Stryker, this is Anya Anderson. I'll probably be dead by the time you hear this. I'm trying to get back to the base where Sonya and Jax can help me, but I don't think I'll make it. But it's imperative that you get this message to Kuai Liang." Unwittingly, she punched the accelerator again when she returned to the shoulder to draw Frost's ice away from innocent bystanders.

"Stryker, you have to tell him that Frost, Noob, and Smoke are trying to kill his mom. And Frost is trying to kill me. She's his sister, Kurtis. She's Sarah. He probably won't believe you, even if he hears this message himself, but please. You've got to convince him. She stole his special key and has been using it to get back and forth without him knowing. I'm trying to lure her away from Maggie, but if I fail, will you please tell him I'm sorry? I'm trying. I'm trying so hard."

She thought about the love of her life, now unable to contain the tears in her eyes. "Kurtis," she continued, "you also have to tell him I'm sorry for everything else. I was a selfish jerk. He was right. I _was _jealous. But it was only because I love him more than anything else in this world, and I didn't want to share him with anyone. I just…I just really believed that Fate meant for us to be together. But I ruined it because I'm stupid. And I'm so sorry I hurt you, Kuai Liang. I know I don't deserve it, but please forgive me one last time. I love you." Now she broke down into penitent tears.

"Ma'am?" the operator asked once more.

But suddenly, one of Frost's ice balls landed on the road before her just as an impatient man in a pick-up truck ahead of her decided to pull onto the shoulder as well. Anya barely saw both obstacles before she was practically upon them. She braked violently, screaming in terror as she did, but it was no use. When she hit the patch of ice, she lost control. In a split second, she crashed the Harley into the beat-up old truck at around seventy miles an hour.

At first, blackness consumed Anya's vision and she didn't even register the pain. She wanted to stay in that void forever, never to wake again. But the smell of oil and gasoline wafting through her nostrils wrenched her eyes open, and she suddenly felt _everything_. Her legs, arms, and ribs were broken in several places, blood spurted from her skull and ear, and the asphalt had flayed her clothes and her skin off her body in spots. All the nerves in her body stood at rigid attention, stabbing into her muscles and bones with millions of microscopic points that added up in a hurry. Anya tried to scream in agony, but her voice choked on all the blood in her throat, so all she could muster was a strange gurgle.

With hot tears of pain streaming down her cheeks, she glanced around moving only her eyes. The truck was dented at the side of the bed where she'd hit it at an angle while her Harley was scattered in tiny pieces across the highway. The truck's owner stood by the tailgate, recording her with the camera on his cell phone. Hatred for him welled up inside her. Couldn't he see how injured she was?

And now Good Samaritans ran towards her, though some of them were also filming the aftermath of the crash with their cameras. She started to cry. "No," she weakly told them. "Run. You have to run."

As soon as she said that, Anya heard Frost cackle as her footfalls crunched on the dirt loudly. "Get away from her or I'll kill you too," she barked at them. Cowards that they were, the people scampered back while still filming. All except for one man, a guy that looked like he was a professional truck driver. He was tall and round and had a greasy red beard down to his chest, and he stood protectively between the nurse and the Cryomancer. Frost promptly produced two ice daggers in her hands, whirled around gracefully, and eviscerated him with a single motion. He fell dead to the ground before he ever knew what hit him. Somewhere beyond Anya's sight, a woman screamed.

Frost ignored the crowd, however, and stared at Anya's broken body with a devilish grin. "Here piggy, piggy, piggy, piggy," she taunted as she crept closer, having thrown her daggers to the ground so they stood straight up in the dirt.

"Frost, why are you doing this?" the nurse whispered, terrified. "What did I ever do to you for you to hate me so much?"

The Cryomancer clicked her tongue and waved her index finger over Anya's face before she pressed on her victim's nose like a button. "You know, Anya, I like you much better now that you're dying," she said, completely ignoring the question as she straddled her prey. The weight of her body made the nurse grimace and groan in further pain.

"Get off me!" she whimpered. Then she shrieked when Frost gripped her broken left arm and twisted it hard.

"Oh, believe me," the woman smirked as her victim bawled, "I _am_."

"I hope your brother kills you," Anya cursed at her when she recovered her breath. Her peace was short lived. Now Frost burrowed her knee into one of Anya's broken femurs. Vomit struggled to explode from her stomach when blinding hot lightning sliced through muscle and tissues, but thankfully Anya controlled it. Once more, though, she wailed as the psychopath tortured her.

"You know what the beautiful part about this is, don't you?" Frost asked as she giggled wickedly. "You walked off and abandoned him. So it'll be a while before he learns about what happens to you. And by then, I'll have him completely poisoned against you. He'll _never_ forgive you for your 'betrayal.' So you get to die knowing that he's going to spend the rest of his life despising you with every fiber of his being. And it's because of me!"

With that, Frost wrapped her powerful fingers around Anya's throat and started to squeeze, taking full advantage of her victim's inability to fight back. The nurse wept, unable to breathe and feeling the sudden chill of ice in her blood. She wanted to believe it was shock, but she knew better. The Cryomancer was freezing her, and it felt an awful lot like walking home from school on a snowy, windy day. Anya's eyes grew heavy once more, and quickly, darkness, the same darkness that she floated in after impact, settled on her. She couldn't resist it now if she wanted to. Slowly, her eyes closed. _I love you, Kuai Liang, _she thought one last time. And then there was nothing.

* * *

**If you hated me for the last chapter, I can only guess how you feel about me after this one! But before you send me hate mail telling me why I suck, I just ask that you trust me. Oh, and remember this word: "Oooh-sah." Not sure if that's how you spell it, but as you say it, you should breathe in deeply to enhance your calm, LOL**


	17. A Coming Storm

Noob stepped through his portal in time to see Frost kneeling over Annalise Anderson's broken body with her fingers wrapped tightly around the woman's throat. It was obvious she had started to freeze her to death. Rage filled him when he saw the _kunoichi_ disobeying orders. It came as no surprise to him that she was defiant of Quan Chi's plan – Smoke had wisely deduced her true intentions – but it still angered him because the sorcerer wouldn't differentiate between the warriors when he punished them all for her disobedience. But even more than that, she was messing with Kuai Liang now, and the still-human part of him that years ago promised to protect his brother suddenly roared to life once more. Nobody – not even their sister – was allowed to hurt his younger brother.

Silently, Noob raced towards the Cryomancer, leapt into the air, and kicked her off Anya's motionless body. He chuckled sadistically as his boots firmly dug into her shoulder. Frost, stunned, yelped as she flew to the side while he sprang backwards onto his hands before bouncing to his feet like an acrobat. Smoke, who had travelled through the portal as well, now knelt beside the battered woman lying unconscious on the ground and examined her. But the demon warrior's sight remained focused on his psychopathic sister, and he didn't pay attention to the cyber-ninja.

"You know, _Brother_," Frost began as she got to her feet, "you're really pissing me off."

"I was just about to say the same thing to you," he shot back. "You will _not_ kill her today."

"If I kill her today or tomorrow, what's the difference?" she spat.

"Quan Chi wants her alive for a reason, you obnoxious little cur," he hissed. "I'm not about to spend another _second_ in Judecca because you never learned how to behave."

"What is the big deal?" she snapped as she rolled her eyes. "She's a plague on Sub-Zero's life! I'm just trying to help him reach his full potential."

"This woman is off limits to you," he retorted. "Now go back to the Lin Kuei temple and wait for further orders, or I'm going to show you how our father helped me reach _my_ full potential."

Frost scowled. "I knew you were gonna say that," she said.

Suddenly, she charged at Noob and threw a punch at his facemask. The wraith automatically deflected the attack, stepped backwards to buy a moment's worth of time, and then stepped forward into a roundhouse kick to her face. She cried out as her head snapped to the side before he turn-kicked her in the shoulder, then snap-kicked her in the gut with the other leg. She grunted in surprise and doubled over, but quickly recovered in time to throw another straight punch at him. Noob easily blocked her and then kicked at her again.

Frost, however, caught his leg this time, threw it to the side, and then kicked him swiftly in the other shin. A sharp pain swelled through his extremities, but he stifled the groan trying to escape him. He staggered back as she advanced and threw a right hook. Noob saw it coming a mile away and leaned back to avoid it. Her fist soared harmlessly over his head, and with catlike reflexes his hand shot out and gripped her wrist to pull her down. But clever girl that she was, she calmly stepped away and twisted her arm around, putting Noob in the precarious position he originally sought for her. With a knowing chuckle, the Cryomancer sprayed ice on the ground beneath him and pushed him to the asphalt.

She hadn't counted on him melting into the pavement like a blob of tarry goop, though. He let himself become one with the ground to confuse her, and only emerged a second later to see the astonished expression on her face. Her eyes were so fixated on Noob's growing form that she didn't notice Saibot rising behind her. She soon found out, however. The wraith's darker half bolted to her and wrapped his arms around her just as he raced to her front and side-kicked her in the gut. Frost doubled over in Saibot's arms and struggled not to vomit, but Noob was pitiless towards her. He threw a back-fisted punch across her cheek, and chuckled at the sickening crack that filled the air. Then he gripped her by the throat and shoved her stunned body into the dented red truck behind them.

"I will not repeat myself again," he hissed as Saibot rejoined him. "Go back to the temple and await further orders." Noob dug his fingers into her throat, and for once she had nothing sassy to say in response. Of course, that could have been because he was within a breadth of crushing her windpipe.

Frost clawed at his hand as she choked on air, so he loosened his grip slightly. "You…you can only delay me," she croaked. "I _will_ kill her."

"Perhaps," Noob replied. "I don't really care what happens to this wretched woman once Quan Chi is done with her. But until then, you'll do what you're told. Or you won't have to worry about what he _might_ do to you because I'll do it for him. Do you understand me, _Sister_?" The wraith couldn't resist putting snide emphasis on the word.

"Yes," she breathed with trouble.

Noob immediately released her. "So why are you still here?" he hissed as she coughed hard and hollowly, almost like a seal barking. But she said nothing more as she pulled an orange disk from inside her uniform and froze it with her powers. Instantly, a swirling orange portal appeared on the side of the road, and she ran through it as if afraid. Good. She _should _be afraid of him. Blood sister or not, she was nothing to him. When the vortex vanished a moment later, the wraith turned to Smoke and the woman, Annalise.

Noob knelt beside her, studying her body in curiosity. Though she was barely recognizable due to her extensive injuries, he could tell she was the same woman who'd fearlessly attacked Sareena in the graveyard during Shao Kahn's invasion. She had jeopardized her life to save Kuai Liang. Noob would never admit it to anyone, but he admired her spunk that day. Her actions to defend his brother, coupled with the pictures his younger sibling lost in that fight, were what inspired the wraith to defy the sorcerer to begin with. He never would have retrieved his old enemy, Scorpion, otherwise. And to Noob's understanding, this woman hadn't left Kuai Liang's side since. It was as if she had taken up his old mantel of protecting his brother.

And a part of him, albeit a faint part that was a dim memory of his prior incarnation, felt grateful that there was someone so trustworthy to watch over Kuai Liang in his absence.

Noob rested one hand on Annalise's forehead and the fingers on his other hand on her throat. In spite of the small dent in her skull, an obvious fracture, the wraith still felt a faint heartbeat throbbing beneath her icy jaw. She had several bones twisted in odd directions, skin flayed from her muscles, and bruises and cuts everywhere. But even all the damage couldn't mask how pretty she was. If Kuai Liang had to get involved with a woman, contrary to Lin Kuei tradition, at least he'd picked a beautiful one. Noob didn't know how or why he did it, but he found himself stroking her relatively unscathed left cheek.

"Her vital signs are weak and steadily growing weaker," Smoke announced, jarring Noob from his thoughts. "I calculate that without immediate medical attention, she has a ninety-seven percent chance of expiring in precisely twelve-point-nine minutes. That is provided she does not have a stroke due to her massive head injury. She has a depressed skull fracture that appears to be deep enough to apply pressure to her brain tissues. Her brain is hemorrhaging. If it worsens or if it triggers a stroke, she will have approximately only four-point-three minutes until she dies."

"Let's get her to Quan Chi then," Noob replied. "If what you say is true, we have to hurry. I will not be punished for Frost's stupidity."

Smoke said nothing, as was his way, but the wraith sensed in his comrade faint concern for the dying woman. Though, he could tell the cyber-ninja was not so much worried about her for Sub-Zero's sake as he was because she was horribly injured, and he felt compassion for her. The shadow warrior felt no such empathy; his duty to Annalise Anderson was purely out of obligation to his brother, and even that only extended to a certain point. Smoke carefully slid his mechanical arms beneath the woman's unconscious body while Noob produced a portal to Outworld. Quan Chi would undoubtedly be there, conspiring with the other sorcerer, Shang Tsung. And with any luck, to keep him out of Judecca that was, one of the immortals could bring Annalise Anderson back from the brink of death.

* * *

For several weeks, Rain had wandered around Shao Kahn's palace feigning boredom to mask his true intentions. As if it were the easiest thing in the world, Quan Chi and Shang Tsung had ambushed the Emperor in his throne room and killed him before seizing control of Outworld. Rain, Shao Kahn's Chief of Security who'd been bribed by the sorcerers with promises of power, had allowed his employer's untimely demise as well as the subsequent coup against all of his supporters. It was, in the Edenian prince's opinion, time for a regime change.

But now that the dust was settling, Rain had begun to plan his own takeover. Though once an ardent servant of Shao Kahn and Shang Tsung, he was a prince and a demi-god, and by Divine Right the true ruler of Outworld. He deserved to be crowned the Emperor. So he had spied on the sorcerers and discovered Quan Chi's secret regarding the Dragon King. Rain fully intended to use his newfound knowledge to his advantage. Confidently he made his way to the Emperor's now deserted throne room as he had at least a hundred times over the last few weeks, and sat like the king upon Shao Kahn's throne, certain of his inevitable future success.

"Don't make yourself too comfortable," the Netherrealm sorcerer commanded as he walked into the room with Sareena in tow.

"Why not?" the prince challenged.

"Because you have work to do."

Rain scoffed as he leaned back in the throne. "Forget it," he jeered. "It's Reptile's turn to give Kintaro his flea bath. Unless you want me to entertain Sareena for a while. Then I'll be more than happy to help with the chores." He didn't even try to hide his licentious stare as he licked his lips at her. She rolled her eyes in disgust as he flashed a grin at her.

Suddenly, a circling black vortex winked into existence before them. Quan Chi, as if expecting it, stood before it with his arms crossed sternly.

"Planning on throwing a party?" Rain asked as Noob Saibot, the sorcerer's other lackey, stepped through the portal with his pet robot, Smoke, in tow. But they weren't what caught the prince's eyes. The cyber-ninja carried an unconscious woman in his arms, and even though her body was badly damaged, she still somehow aroused his baser instincts. He immediately slid from his throne and sauntered to them.

"What is this?" Quan Chi asked the wraith as he studied their captive. "I told you no harm was to befall her. So why do you present her to me like this?"

Sareena clicked her tongue to mock the slaves. "You know better than to break Quan Chi's playthings, baby," she chided Noob.

"There was an accident while we were chasing her," the wraith explained.

"Heal her, Rain," the sorcerer barked.

He glowered at the immortal with the strange red tattoos. "Healing someone requires an inordinate amount of energy," he argued. "Why should I expend it for a woman I care nothing about? What will you give me in exchange for my help?" That was always the bottom line with him.

"I'll give you her," he replied, nodding to the woman. "She can be your reward. That is, when I'm done with her. I think you'll find my offer is…more than fair."

Rain thought it an intriguing notion. Quan Chi didn't just give away slaves for no reason. "Very well. Let's see what I can do. Set her down there," he said to Smoke as he pointed to the floor in front of the throne. The cyber-ninja obeyed.

His race of Edenians, the Hydromancers, was blessed with many abilities, not least of which was their power over water. But they were also renowned healers as well as touch psychics. A person's soul was theirs to behold in its entirety as long as they touched the person's skin directly. It was a gift from the water goddess that first spawned them, Eidothea, so when Rain knelt beside the broken woman and held her bloody hand to heal her, her soul opened up and revealed its secrets to him without resistance.

Her name was Annalise, but she abbreviated it, preferring the name 'Anya' to the more formal one. Her father, Rain knew, wanted to call her 'Emma' instead, but her mother, a so-called human with a very pregnant belly, shrilly insisted on 'Annalise.' The now-dead woman – a proverbial goddess who had died when her daughter was an adolescent – looked like her twin sister rather than her mother. And she had been carrying a secret that Anya's blood could not hide from the Hydromancer. Though the woman successfully pretended to hail from an Earthrealm land called Russia for the duration of her life, she was, in fact, no human.

Anya's mother, Catja, was an Edenian. More specifically, she was a Hydromancer like Rain, and was really 12,351 years old when she gave birth to her first and only child. The prince looked back into her history and saw that the woman, one of the last Hydromancers in Outworld, fled to Earthrealm when the Elder God Himavat took pity on her and opened a portal before Shao Kahn's extermination squad found her. There, she married a man, a healer like her. Catja had more than her fill of war and warriors, enough to last a lifetime.

For fear of being discovered, she never told anyone her secret, not even her precious daughter who unwittingly carried the blood of the gods in her veins. Anya always thought it unusual that she was a quick healer – in fact, it was the only thing that had saved her life in her recent _accident_ – and that she rarely got sick. But she thought it even odder that her touch somehow had the power to heal. Only a half-breed, her powers were nowhere near as strong as Rain's, nor were they as cultivated and honed, but she had the ability to alleviate people's worst physical and emotional ailments by simply placing her hand on their bodies. And she never knew why. But Rain knew.

With a pleased smirk, he gently pried open one of Anya's eyelids to confirm that which he already knew to be true: that her eyes were shaded a lovely purple. It was an extremely rare quality to find amongst the humans, but it was one of the common distinguishing characteristics of the Hydromancer people. And as he expected, she carried within her that trait.

"I see what you mean, Quan Chi," he grinned. "She will be ample reward."

"I knew you would be pleased with her," the sorcerer said. On the opposite side of Rain's body, he noticed how Noob stiffened slightly. It was such a faint action he wasn't even sure the wraith knew he'd done it. He flashed his usual, arrogant grin at his tentative ally.

"I'm _very_ pleased," he replied.

Once, the Hydromancers had been a powerful race of Edenians, comprising a quarter of the population, and they were loyal to King Jerrod and the rest of the royal family. But when Shao Kahn merged the realms and Edenia became Outworld, they had all but been exterminated. For many years, Rain fought with the resistance against the Emperor, but when they failed to make him a General like he wished, he'd betrayed them by feeding critical information to the Emperor. Naturally, he wiped them out. The already dwindling Hydromancer population now faced extinction. It was regrettable, but nothing would stand in the way of the prince's claim to power.

But now that Rain stood on the brink of kingship, he knew he needed to rebuild his people. And to do that, he needed a female Hydromancer. He preferred someone full-blooded to be his mate, but as beautiful as this Anya Anderson was, he'd make an exception. She would be a wife he could be proud to own. As he touched her, seeing every inch of her naked body through her memories of looking at herself, his blood boiled. An overwhelming urge to drive his body into hers consumed him, and he had to stifle it. He knew he needed to calm himself. There would be plenty of time for that soon enough. And when she fully belonged to him, he would have his fill of her every night. A groan that was caught in his throat betrayed him at the thought.

Now Rain, his heart still pulsing in excitement, saw her riding a strange invention that consisted of two wheels and required no animal to pull it. Her brain called it a 'motorcycle,' and he watched as Frost hunted her down and actively tried to kill her in spite of the _accident_ Noob insisted it was. She had fled from a house and from a fight with a man in Earthrealm she loved, one of Raiden's champions. He'd never seen this Sub-Zero in person, but rumors of his prowess in combat had exalted him to a legendary status in Outworld even though he was only a half-breed himself and had nowhere near the same potency as his ancestors Rain helped slaughter. The prince examined her memories of him, internalizing her adoration for the Cryomancer, and felt nothing but disdain for the warrior who owned her heart. Surely, Sub-Zero would pose a threat to him.

Within seconds, the Edenian prince had absorbed Anya's entire life story into his mind, seeing every school play, angry moment, sexual encounter, and more as if they all were components in his life and his memories. There was such spirit to her character, such fluidity. She was as strong and as unyielding as the ocean, even if she didn't realize it yet. And when Rain firmly pressed his hand into her flat belly, sensing the healthy womb ready to produce life, he was determined more than ever to use her and her qualities to spawn a new generation of Hydromancers completely loyal to him.

"Heal her, already, and be done with it," Noob barked. "Smoke doesn't think she has long to live."

"Indeed, she doesn't," Rain agreed as he gripped her hand once more. He flashed a knowing look at Noob, who'd lied to Quan Chi. "This surely was a terrible _accident_."

The wraith shot him an evil glare, betraying him. Good. Now he knew that Rain knew he'd lied. "Fear makes people do foolish things like run," he countered.

"I can see that," the prince chided. But he said nothing more after that. Instead, he inhaled deeply and pressed Anya's bloody hand to his heart. Like water, his spirit trickled through his skin, unseen by everyone else's eyes, and poured into her body. For a brief moment, his spirit mingled with hers, and it felt warm and pleasant to him. It had been years since he'd healed someone, and even longer since he'd healed someone who felt pure and good rather than evil.

Rain closed his eyes and psychically felt every injury on her body start to heal and close. Naturally, the cuts and bruises healed the quickest while the broken bones were stubborn. So hard and resistant, they didn't want to mend together. But the prince concentrated more intently on them and forced them to reconnect and align. As her wounds began to vanish, Rain couldn't help but lust after her body once more. Her beauty was more apparent, now, in the absence of injury. And thanks to Quan Chi, it belonged completely to him.

* * *

_Become one with this great sea of the Waters of Creation_… a serene male voice said from somewhere deep inside her.

Anya closed her eyes. She floated peacefully in a calm ocean at sunset now, far from all earthly concerns, but she did not question her presence there. She belonged in the star-kissed water, no different than the fish and the whales and the crabs swimming beneath her. It washed away her pain; not any physical pain she might've felt as a mortal, but all the injuries that scarred her soul and disfigured her before herself and the people around her. The ocean gave her power. She was a part of it now, just as it was a part of her. And she had long since forgotten the world she was leaving behind, so she let herself drift slowly towards a bright spot on the horizon, to the place where the fiery sun sank into the sea.

_Dive deep into it until you have lost yourself_…She vaguely recognized the speaker. It belonged to someone named Himavat, she thought. It was hard to know for sure, or even to care.

_And having lost yourself, you will find yourself again_.

She was ready to move on. Her body drifted faster towards the large, whitish disk.

_Changeless, this great expanse of elemental Water remains forever pure_...

"Anya!" a strong voice boomed around her. It echoed through the sky, disturbing her serenity. "Wake up!" it yelled. "Come back." A man's voice.

_For this reason, it possesses the quality of stability_…

"Return to me," the voice spoke loudly. Though alluring and deep, it hurt her ears. The sun on the horizon gradually grew smaller. Her body slowed.

"Annalise, I want you to wake up," he ordered. The sun became a pinpoint. "I want _you_."

Now a woman, someone called Maggie she thought, yelled, "Annalise! Don't forget Kuai Liang! He needs you!"

"Come to me, my darling girl," the strange man said louder than Maggie. It was seductive and smooth. She felt compelled to follow this new voice wherever it would take her.

_From Water all life has its beginning_.

Anya's eyes fluttered open.

She gasped loudly as she woke, confusion flooding her as her blurry vision gradually focused. She was lying on the floor in some sort of massive chamber constructed of black marble and decorated with statues reminiscent of ancient Egypt. She saw strange birds and reptiles carved from onyx stationed upon pedestals around the room. Around her, several figures stared upon her in quiet expectation as she wearily sat upright.

"Am I dead?" she mumbled, vaguely remembering how Frost had chased her and she had crashed. Frost! Frost was Kuai Liang's sister. He was in danger!

Suddenly, thoughts of her love for him flooded her. _Kuai Liang_. Anya closed her eyes as she buried her heavy head in her hands, and in her mind's eye inexplicably replayed the first time she'd kissed him. She'd spent three days keeping silent vigil over him as he lay in a hospital bed in a medically induced coma after being wounded in battle. She'd never prayed so fervently in her life, and when he finally came out of the woods, she'd cried in relief, realizing for the first time that she loved him. Oh sure, she'd convinced herself she hadn't fallen in love on the spot because she adamantly refused to believe in love at first sight, but if she was truly honest with herself, she'd admit that was the point in time where she knew that it was in fact real. So she'd kissed him, expecting his lips to be cold as ice, not warm and moist as they were. And when he looked at her with those bewildered blue eyes, she knew he needed her just as much as she needed him. From that point on, their fates would forever be intertwined.

He was her soulmate.

And that _bitch_ Frost was still out there, threatening to hurt him. Oh, hell no! Not on _her_ goddamn watch.

"Kuai Liang!" Anya yelped as she tried to scramble to her feet, determined to save him, yet surprised that she was uninjured. She hadn't been that way before she lost consciousness. In fact, the nurse inside her knew her wounds were life-threatening. Maybe she _was_ dead. In a panic, she darted her eyes around and took in some familiar and unfriendly faces. Noob Saibot, Smoke, Sareena, and Quan Chi, as well as a handsome man dressed in a purple ninja uniform similar to Kuai Liang's, all stared back at her.

"Welcome to Outworld, Annalise Anderson," Quan Chi greeted.

She recoiled, unwittingly backing into Smoke's cybernetic body. When her back met his armor, she whirled around and yelped in surprise and fear. "Let me go!" she yelled.

"I'm sorry, but as you may have figured out, that won't be possible," the sorcerer told her. "You are going to help me do some very important things."

"Like hell I am," she snapped, her defiance conquering her terror. "You can kill me if you want. But I'm not helping you do shit."

"Your companions said similar things," he said as he knelt before her and gripped her chin with his gloved fingers.

She flinched. What was he talking about? "My…my companions?" she repeated slowly.

"My dear Annalise," he began. "Do you think I sent Frost, Noob, and Smoke after you and you alone?" He clicked his tongue and then stroked her cheek. She grimaced. "No," he continued. "You are the fourth. I already have Sherman, Nightwolf's son, as well as Kabal's sister, Khadija, and Princess Kitana's servant, Jade. And all three of them have very kindly agreed to do what I've asked of them."

Anya's eyes bulged in surprise. "But, why do you need us-"

"There are multiple reasons of course," he interrupted. "You four have, shall we say, very specific qualities that make you abundantly special and useful. But in addition, you'll serve as ample bait to lure in the Earthrealm warriors. _Especially_ you, my dear."

"I'll warn him," she growled. "I'll warn Kuai Liang if he comes looking for me."

"I believe you," Quan Chi told her with a smile. "That's why I'm going to erase any thought of him from your mind."

New panic surged through her. Was he going to wipe her memories from her head? Anya had seen firsthand the kind of power this guy possessed, and she was certain he could do it. She scooted backwards again, but this time the man in purple caught her and held her fast, jerking her arms behind her back to pin her. His arms were strong and reminiscent of Kuai Liang's, but she didn't like the way he felt when he touched her. Her skin crawled.

"Let go of me!" she screeched.

"I don't think so, my darling girl," he replied with a chuckle. Anya immediately recognized the voice from her dream. She struggled to throw off his arms as he tenderly kissed her neck, but he had an iron grip. "You're mine now." He looked at the sorcerer. "Do it, Quan Chi," he said. "The sooner you get her mind off that no-talent half-breed, the better."

"No," she whimpered as her voice collapsed into sobs. Kuai Liang had taught her to get out of this kind of a hold. God, what was it he'd said to do? Dammit! Why hadn't she paid attention? She couldn't think straight, and the harder she resisted, the more panic set in, causing her to cry harder in fear. "Let me go," she whined.

Now Quan Chi stretched his hand towards her. It was glowing with green energy. "Calm yourself, Annalise," he said in his deep voice. Her teary eyes focused on the power emanating from his fingers, and saw nothing else. "Be grateful. You will never have to feel the pain of losing your soulmate. And in time, he'll have forgotten about you as well."

"You son of a bitch," she half-sobbed as his words stabbed her in the heart. He ignored her as his fingers grew closer.

In that moment, she thought of Kuai Liang and nothing else. Their first kiss. The time she took him to his very first baseball game. The Mets versus the Rockies. Final score: 4-2, Rockies. Of course, she hadn't watched the game so much as him. He had been taken by it right away, and she thought it was adorable the way his nose had wrinkled in disgust every time a player didn't hit the ball. Anya thought of the time she introduced him to bowling, and how she'd performed at an even more embarrassing level than usual, so he'd made fun of her in front of Jax and Sonya until she kicked him in the shin in retaliation. There were also all the times he tried to teach her self-defense, and how he'd 'tested' her knowledge by breaking into her apartment. Or how he'd froze her pager because it went off the very first time she let him get to second base. And she thought of every time they'd made love. And how she'd pranked him by rigging a bucket of water over their bedroom door one day. It was an oldie-but-goodie trick, and he'd yowled like a cat thrown into a bathtub when the frigid water drenched him completely. He'd said some colorful words in front of the Lin Kuei kiddies as he frantically tried to peel off his icy clothes, and she'd nearly died laughing in the process. Then he got her back later by hiding a tarantula in her underwear drawer, and it was _his_ turn to laugh at her expense when she hopped on their bed and refused to come down until he got rid of it. And she thought of how right it always felt when he'd wrap his big arms around her, pull her close, and rock with her as if slow-dancing.

"Please, Quan Chi," she begged as the hot tears streamed down her cheeks. "Don't take my memories away."

But her pleas fell on deaf ears. The sorcerer touched the middle of her forehead with a glowing finger. Suddenly, there was nothing in her mind but a blank white canvas.

* * *

**Author's Note: Okay, before the haters make fun of me for naming Nightwolf's son 'Sherman,' you should realize that he's named after the great Native American writer, Sherman Alexie. He has several books, but he wrote a collection of short stories I admire called _The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian._ So, yeah. Look him up, my peeps. **


	18. Raiden Returns

Kuai Liang lay flat on his back on the bed that, until that afternoon, he'd shared with Anya, staring blankly at the ceiling high above. Outside the bay windows, a blizzard swirled violently through the night. The weather seemed to reflect how he felt inside. Furious gusts of rage blew little flakes of stray emotion through his heart. And the damnable thing was that he wasn't even angry with her. He was angry with himself. And that anger hurt. Bad.

_How could she leave me?_ he wondered for the hundredth time since their argument earlier.

Swallowing the painful lump biting at the inside his throat, Kuai Liang held his hand in front of his face and studied the trinket in his fingers. In the dim lamplight, Maggie's claddagh ring barely sparkled, perhaps because it was grieving too. He _was_ going to give it to Anya. The only reason he hadn't yet was because he was having trouble thinking up the perfect way to present it to her. Since their near-miss, he'd imagined at least fifty different scenarios, but he didn't think any of them were good enough to sweep her off her feet. She deserved the absolute best he had to offer, and he intended to give it to her. But now it didn't even matter, and that hurt too.

With a furious roar, Kuai Liang suddenly threw the ring across the room.

He couldn't stop hearing Anya say, "…as long as Frost is there, I won't be."

Her hatred for the female Cryomancer ran deeper than he knew. She had been jealous. That much was obvious. But why? He'd never given her reason to question his faithfulness to her before, nor had he given her reason to think he'd cheat on her with Frost. Or had he? Anya seemed to think so. And when he now thought about how she'd accused him of spending no time with her and all his time with his student, he started to see her point. He supposed that even to a woman who didn't have a history of two-timing boyfriends, his behavior looked suspicious.

He hadn't meant for it to be like that. It was just engrained in him from childhood to throw himself 110% into everything he did, and training Frost was no exception. It was a task he'd taken very seriously, and he thought Anya understood that it was just his way. But again, not that it mattered. She was gone, and it was because he was an idiot who couldn't see just how unhappy she felt until it was too late. The Cryomancer cringed at the thought of never seeing her again.

"Grandmaster," Cyrax's mechanical voice broke through his thoughts. Kuai Liang looked up and saw the cyber-ninja standing in what was left of the door. When Anya locked him in their room earlier, he'd had to freeze the door and shatter it in order to break free. So now, the door itself was gone, but the jamb was splintered and the metal hinges were warped.

"I told you I don't want to be disturbed," he hissed in irritation.

"I know, Grandmaster, but Kurtis Stryker is on Skype waiting to talk to you."

"Tell him to go to hell," he snapped.

"But-"

"Cyrax, it may have escaped your notice, but I don't really want to talk. To anyone. So get out of my sight before we have a problem."

"Sir, he says it's urgent."

In exasperation and agitation, Sub-Zero threw his legs over the side of his bed and stood before stamping to the cyber-ninja. "Can you at least pretend you have an independent thought in your head, you digital trash can?" he growled. His subordinate looked taken aback, but wisely said nothing as the Cryomancer marched to the portal room where the computer communications equipment was set up.

Kuai Liang immediately saw Stryker on the screen. Behind him stood Kabal, who'd evidently recovered from their fight earlier. When both cops saw him step into the camera's view, Stryker started, "We need to talk-"

"Shut up," he snapped. "This is a bad time for chit-chat." He assumed the officer wanted to threaten him with arrest for assaulting a policeman. And as far as he was concerned, Stryker could shove it.

"Dude, it's about Anya," he countered.

"Then it's a _really_ bad time. And don't call me 'dude.'" With that, Kuai Liang pressed a button on the keyboard to disable the camera, essentially hanging up on the detectives. He'd have Cyrax talk to them tomorrow. Maybe. If his mood had improved.

He whirled around to face his second-in-command. "Now, I'm gonna say this slowly and loudly because I want to be sure you understand," he began in his most condescending voice. "_I don't want to be disturbed_. Got it?"

"Yes, Grandmaster," Cyrax replied.

"Do you know what I'll do to you if you disturb me?"

"Yes, Grandmaster."

"Good," he said sarcastically. Then he stormed off. He felt his emotions rapidly spiraling out of control once more, just as they had that afternoon when he'd sucker-punched Kabal, and he knew he had to get a rein on them quickly. He'd already involuntarily frozen his bedside table and six workout shirts, but the way he felt at the moment, he would soon be graduating to people. For a man who controlled the power of ice, he thought it almost funny that his temper was so fiery. Bi-han and An Zhi both had nasty tempers too, but theirs were cold and calm, more in line with what people expected from the Cryomancers.

Oniro expected that from Kuai Liang as well, but the youngest Cryomancer always had trouble controlling his emotions, so he was perpetually on the Grandmaster's short list. As he'd gotten older, however, he'd learned different strategies to calm himself, at least on the outside, and one of those was beating a punching bag until his knuckles had turned to rubber. That was a last ditch effort to regain control, though, and one he only employed after he'd meditated, practiced Tai Chi, or threw ice balls at a tree. But now, burning alive from the inside out, he had to do something more drastic, something physically punishing to distract his brain from his emotional pain. So Kuai Liang made a beeline for the McKinley training hall. He didn't care if he crushed his hands; one way or another, he was not going to spend another _second_ of his life feeling this way.

When he reached McKinley, the punching bag was already set up, having stayed that way after he set it up for Frost earlier that day. He went to it and stared intently at it for a long moment. Soon, he saw the bag become him, the Kuai Liang who'd acted like a jackass towards Anya. His precious Anya. Ignoring her, turning her affections away, calling her a bitch. He glared at his idiot self, loathing himself for his stupidity. No wonder Tomas and Bi-han had to dedicate their lives to keeping him out of trouble. He was a moron who ruined everything good around him.

"This didn't have to happen!" he yelled at no one in particular. Kuai Liang started punching the bag, the mental image of himself really, as hard as he could. The sand-filled cylinder bobbed around violently, but he hit it every time, never missing a shot. It felt like a brick wall against his bare knuckles, but he didn't care. It still didn't hurt enough to mask the pain swelling in his chest and surging into his throat. He didn't even notice when the skin on his knuckles split.

"Grandmaster!" a feminine voice cried from behind him, but he ignored her. His knuckles all wept blood now. "Grandmaster, stop!" A second later, Frost was beside him, tugging on his left arm. Angrily, he threw her hands off him.

"Get out of my sight," he growled, finally letting his bloody hands fall to his sides. He panted from the workout. "You're the last person I want to see right now."

Blue fire burned in her eyes. "I didn't do anything to you," she hissed. "_She_ did."

"I don't like your tone," he snapped. "You will show her, _and_ me, more respect. I'm your Sifu and your Grandmaster, and you're getting entirely too bold with me."

She narrowed her eyes. "I'm merely suggesting that this self-flagellation thing you've got going on right now is adorable and all, but not really constructive. I think you should think about this logically."

"I think you should get the hell out of here now," he retorted. "Anya's not coming back. That's all the logic I need."

_But she _did_ give you an out_, his inner voice reminded him.

If Kuai Liang sent Frost away, he remembered, Anya said she'd come back. That morning, he wouldn't have put up with such an ultimatum. But now, faced with the prospect of going another minute without her, he would gladly reconsider. Sure, it was cool to have another Cryomancer around to relate to, especially as talented a warrior as Frost was. But that didn't light a candle to the way he felt about Anya. Even when she drove him crazy, she gave him a semblance of peace and hope that he now found was unbearable to live without. And if she were here right now, she'd call him an idiot for hurting his hands, but then she'd tenderly bandage them up like only _she_ could. God, he wanted her back, more than anything in the world. So Frost was gone. End of story. And hopefully, Anya would return.

"I want you to leave," he said calmly.

Frost grinned. "I love how it's like flipping a switch with you. But, since you asked nicely, I'll be in the barracks if you need me."

"No, I mean you need to leave the temple," he clarified. "I made a mistake bringing you here. So you need to go. I'll tell Cyrax to send you wherever in the world you want. You have an hour."

His student recoiled. "What?" she hissed in disbelief. "You can't do that."

"I can," he replied. "And I did."

Frost inhaled unhappily, but then looked at him with sapphire eyes now colder than ice. "I'm a Cryomancer like you," she began. "We might be the last two people alive who know what that's like."

"I realize that," Kuai Liang answered. "But Anya didn't trust you. I always defended you, but now I wonder why I didn't listen to her."

She glowered. "You're wrong not to trust someone who knows you so well. Because of what we are, I know you better than anyone."

"You're sadly mistaken," he shot back, crossing his arms. "You don't know as much as you think you do."

"I know more than you realize. But I never betrayed you, Sub-Zero. That was Anya."

Kuai Liang felt like Frost had just slapped him in the face. Her words stung, mostly because they rang true. She _hadn't_ done anything wrong. Anya, on the other hand, had acted like a child instead of an adult about her feelings. And like a child throwing a temper tantrum, she ran straight into Kabal's arms just to make him feel the same jealousy she did.

Frost must've sensed his realization because she added a moment later, "It's terrible when you can't trust the people around you."

Kuai Liang felt a swell of fire in his chest. All afternoon since Anya left, he'd been moping around like a whiny little girl. It was disgraceful, really, and he could only imagine what An Zhi would say could he see his son now. Sudden anger for his now ex-girlfriend surged through him. _She'd_ left _him_. So if she wanted to come back, _she_ needed to be the one sucking up at the speed of light. Not him. He wasn't going to be held hostage by her demands.

"All right," he reluctantly conceded. "You can stay. Now go back to the barracks. I wish to be left alone."

But right then, thunder boomed through the hall. A moment later, a bolt of lightning crashed through the ceiling, blinding both Cryomancers. When the brilliant white glow dissipated as well as the painful blue and red spots flashing across Kuai Liang's vision, he saw Lord Raiden standing before him looking exactly the same as he had when he last saw him.

"Sorry, Sub-Zero," the thunder god said. "Alone-time is going to have to wait."

"Nice to see you again, too, Raiden," he said drily.

"You need to organize your best warriors," Raiden said, ignoring the Cryomancer's sarcasm. "You're going to Outworld."

Kuai Liang crossed his arms. "That's interesting," he began. "Now rephrase that in the form of a question. Then explain to me why you want me to go to that dump."

"Your blasphemy towards the gods never ceases to amuse me," he replied flatly. "Every Cryomancer since Himavat has a strong rebellious streak and general disdain for authority figures, and it is good to see that some traditions never die. But need I remind you that you swore to serve Earthrealm as a champion? That oath demands you defend this dimension from any threats that arise. So I will not, as you say, rephrase my command in the form of a question." He crossed his arms. "And I will explain the situation when everyone arrives there. I'm gathering all of my champions. But I know you have been training your warriors to defend Earthrealm as well. So I want you to bring any whom you feel are ready for this challenge."

"I want to go!" Frost now spoke up, and Kuai Liang glared at her. She sounded like a child, and she had just humiliated him in front of the thunder god. The Lin Kuei were supposed to be more composed than that.

"Be quiet," he hissed.

Raiden narrowed his eyes as he looked at her closely. A strange expression, Sub-Zero wasn't quite sure what, crossed his face as he looked at the female Cryomancer. She shifted uncomfortably under his penetrating gaze. Then his eyes darted back to him, and Kuai Liang felt like they probed his soul. And they probably were. But what exactly was he seeing?

"You should bring this one," the god suggested, though his tone didn't necessarily give Frost a ringing endorsement. "I'm sure she'll be able to illuminate much."

Frost practically beamed. "Thank you, my Lord," she said as she bowed.

"_I_ make the decisions, Frost," Kuai Liang growled. "But as it so happens, I _will_ take you with me. You're a skilled fighter, but your powers will undoubtedly prove useful. And they're the _only_ reason you're going."

"And who else?" Raiden prodded.

"Cyrax," he said. He didn't even have to think about it. He was unhappy with the cyber-ninja for disturbing him earlier, but there was no denying that he was one of the three best warriors in the Lin Kuei, the other two being Sub-Zero and Frost. Furthermore, his mechanical and digital implants might come in handy for whatever errand the thunder god was sending them on.

"Gather him," Raiden ordered. Sub-Zero bristled. He did _not_ like being bossed around in his own house when _he_ was the Grandmaster. But he did not argue.

A half an hour later, after Kuai Liang put Shen in charge until he got back, Raiden opened a portal swirling with electric blue currents and little flashes of lightning. The thunder god motioned for the humans to walk through it first, so Frost, followed by Cyrax and then Sub-Zero, wandered through. Whereas Himavat's portals always felt like water to him, like being chained to the bottom of the deepest end of a swimming pool, Raiden's portal felt airy and cool. It was like walking outside right before a thunderstorm exploded onto the land, dark, ominous, and uncertain. But as with all portals, Kuai Liang was through it in a second.

Outworld. He'd only been here once before, when he'd gone on a mad quest to find Bi-han's killer. It was where the Lin Kuei tried to abduct him, and succeeded in abducting Tomas. It was where he learned about the Cryomancer's history through Himavat, and where he'd first joined with the Earthrealm fighters. But this place was not a happy place then, nor was it now. The group had emerged in a clearing in what looked to be the middle of the Forbidden Forest. A circle of man-eating trees stood guard around them. The sky, black and starless, felt like death descending upon them. The only glimmer of hope that Kuai Liang could see was a small campfire in the immediate center, and around it sat many of his old allies. Earthrealm's champions.


	19. Revelations

Everyone but Liu Kang, Stryker, and Kabal was present at the gathering in Outworld. That was expected. What the Cryomancer did _not_ expect, however, was how dejected and forlorn his teammates all seemed to be. Even when things were at their worst during Shao Kahn's invasion the prior year, nobody looked defeated. There had always been spirit and determination in their eyes. But now, it was like they had lost the battle before they'd even started to fight.

Jax looked up, his eyes slightly damp. "Hey, KL. Glad you could join us." His voice was anything but happy.

"Wouldn't miss it," the Cryomancer said sarcastically as he threw his bag of gear onto the ground beside a bench-like log and sat down. "This is Frost and Cyrax," he told his teammates who hadn't met his two fighters yet.

"How you doing?" the Major asked, uninterested in the other two.

Kuai Liang knew exactly what the man meant. Anya. He glared at his friend. "How do you think I'm doing?" He paused as he picked at the bandages wrapping his hands. His knuckles ached. "And what's the matter with you? Get something in your eye?"

Jax looked at his hands now. "Right before Raiden came and got me, I got some bad news. My son, Snowman. My boy. He was murdered."

Kuai Liang noticed Frost stiffen ever-so-slightly. He reacted similarly. His heart suddenly went out to his friend. He had heard the pain of losing a child was unbearable, and if he ever had children of his own, he prayed he never had to know what that was like. His fight with Anya, as awful as it was, was nothing compared with what Jax must've been going through at the moment. The Cryomancer looked at him and softly said, "Oh. I'm…sorry." The right thing to say eluded him.

"He's not the only one," Johnny chimed in. Kuai Liang had been so wrapped up in his thoughts that he hadn't even noticed how the actor was not being his usual, annoying self. "Someone got my brother. Every single one of us lost a family member recently. Every single one of them was murdered."

"That's not true," Nightwolf said as Sub-Zero frowned at the news. "My oldest son was kidnapped."

"But your wife and your younger son were killed, weren't they?"

"No," the Apache growled. "They were _butchered_." With that, he threw a mystical green tomahawk into the ground. Anguish filled his eyes. Kuai Liang felt compassion for him as well. For all of his companions, even the ever-obnoxious Johnny Cage.

"What about you, Sub-Zero?" Kitana asked. Her piercing eyes looked sharply at him. "Have _you_ lost anyone in recent weeks?"

He inhaled deeply. He had lost Anya. But not the way _they _meant. "No," he said, not wishing to elaborate more. Better to keep his cards close to his vest.

"You're such a dick," Sonya hissed from her spot beside Jax. She glared at Frost.

"You're picking the _wrong_ day to fuck with me, Sonya" he hissed, mildly surprising himself as he spoke. Generally speaking, he avoided swearing, especially the really nasty words. Bi-han had always ingrained in him growing up that because he was so gifted with language, he should have no trouble finding better words to express himself, and he'd taken his brother's words to heart. But if there ever was a time to use a bad word, now was that time.

Sonya sprang to her feet and stood before him. "You wanna start something with me?" she yelled. He bristled and started to stand.

"Enough!" a booming voice roared over them as thunder rumbled in the distance. A moment later, Raiden materialized and glared at all of them, which made Sonya retreat and the Cryomancer sit back down. Then, satisfied that everyone had calmed down, he raised his arm and summoned a portal. Seconds later, Stryker and Kabal both came through toting bags of weapons and equipment. As soon as the detective saw Kuai Liang, he made a beeline for him. "I need to talk to you," he mumbled quietly.

"Not now, Stryker," Sub-Zero snapped. "I'm still not in the mood for chit-chat."

The detective started to argue, but Raiden interrupted. "I know you're all wondering why I've summoned you here when you're all undergoing immense personal tragedy. It is of the utmost importance, I assure you, and I regret having to call upon you right now for help." He gazed at his champions and then continued. "It has come to my attention that the sorcerer Quan Chi, ruthlessly pursued by the demon wraith, Scorpion, has escaped from the Netherrealm and is now in Outworld.

"Somehow, during his escape, he discovered the ancient army of the mighty Dragon King as well as the way to resurrect the warriors. Armed with his newfound knowledge, he has formed an alliance with Shang Tsung. With their combined strength as well as the help of some overly ambitious people-" Raiden gazed fearsomely at Frost as he said that – "they plotted to overpower the only two beings who could prevent their total domination of our two realms. The first was Shao Kahn. With the help of a warrior called Rain who served as the Emperor's Chief of Security, they assassinated him."

"Well, shit, Raiden," Sonya interjected. "That sounds like a reason to celebrate."

"Yes, but they didn't stop with him," the thunder god replied. "They then traveled to Earthrealm. There they ambushed Liu Kang. It saddens me to tell you all that Liu Kang is dead, his soul stolen by Shang Tsung."

A loud gasp escaped Kitana as she burst into quiet tears. Kuai Liang glanced at her and felt a surge of pity for her as Johnny gently rubbed her back. He wondered if Anya would cry like that if she heard _he'd_ died.

The other warriors who knew Liu made no show of emotion, but their already defeated expressions grew wearier. He understood. They'd all lost family in recent weeks. The Cryomancer had been lucky none of _his_ family had been harmed and he wasn't certain why; perhaps his luck stemmed from the assailants not knowing he had a family to begin with. But his teammates had not only suffered terrible blows to their psyches, now they had to deal with the news that their leader was gone as well. This whole situation seemed undoubtedly grim.

Raiden continued: "Quan Chi and Shang Tsung have since returned to Outworld and will soon be ready to use the souls of conquered warriors to resurrect the Dragon King's army. Should they succeed, they will be invincible. We cannot allow that army to be resurrected."

Now Stryker stepped forward. "Kabal and I were informed of everyone's…misfortunes…We've suffered our own too. My brother and his father were murdered, and his sister was kidnapped."

"Yeah," Kabal mumbled, "we didn't think it was a coincidence that all the Earthrealm warriors' families were being exterminated. We think that their murders are related to this business with Quan Chi."

Frost sighed impatiently. "No shit, Sherlock," she chided.

"You don't speak until I tell you to," Kuai Liang snapped as he glared at her. There wasn't even an ounce of tact in her tone, and it made him angrier than he already was. He was determined to teach her humility and respect, even if it killed him.

"Haokah, why are they kidnapping our family members?" Nightwolf asked as he looked at Raiden.

"As a bargaining chip, I'm sure," Raiden said in disgust. "But I must briefly confer with the other gods about this to be certain. Therefore, I ask that you all stay here until I return shortly."

The thunder god raised his arm and glanced at the two detectives as he disappeared on a bolt of lightning. That prompted Stryker to look at Kuai Liang. "Sub-Zero, Kabal and I need to talk to you. _Now_."

"Still not in the mood," he replied.

The cop would not let it go, however. He grabbed Kuai Liang's arm and yanked him to his feet so he could whisper in his ear. "Something happened to Anya. That's what I was trying to tell you earlier."

Sudden panic flooded the Cryomancer and replaced the urge to kick Stryker's ass on principle. What if these mysterious assailants assassinating the other warriors' families _had _gotten to his family as well? And what if she was dead? All his anger at her dissipated immediately; none of that crap mattered. All that was important was for the officer to tell her she was okay. He looked at Stryker in alarm. "What do you mean, 'something happened to Anya'?" he replied, unable to conceal the worry in his voice. "Where _is _she?" he whispered back frantically.

"Come with me," the cop told him quietly. "This needs to stay between us." He motioned for Kabal to follow them. Frost started to follow as well, but Stryker immediately held up his hand to her and stopped her. "Not you. This is a private conversation," he growled.

Anger flashed in Frost's eyes, but she reluctantly sat down on her log anyway. Sub-Zero could care less about her unhappiness at the moment. "All right, you two," he began as soon as they were deep in the trees, completely out of earshot. "Talk. What happened to Anya?"

"I'm fine, by the way," Kabal told him pointedly.

"I don't care," he replied, crossing his arms. "I just care about her. So spill it, Stryker. What happened to her?"

"A call came in to 911 earlier this evening," he began. "You know what that is, right?"

Kuai Liang rolled his eyes. "Of course I do."

"Anya placed the call."

The Cryomancer furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Why?"

"She wanted to deliver a message to me to give to you."

He didn't like the sound of this. He suddenly thought of her suicide attempt as a teenager, and now he worried she'd hurt herself to hurt him. "Is she dead?" he asked quietly, not really prepared for the answer but needing to satisfy his curiosity anyway. What would he do if she was? He wasn't even sure he could deal with losing her after losing Bi-han and Tomas. He just didn't think he had enough strength left inside him.

"I don't know," Stryker said cryptically.

"What?" Now Kuai Liang was even more confused. "That's not a hard question to answer."

"Play him the tape," Kabal told Stryker, who immediately pulled a small tape player from his black cargo pant pocket. He pressed the play button. Immediately, there was the dull roar of Anya's motorcycle engine dominating the hissing and popping of the recording. Within a second, he heard a strange woman speak.

"_911 operator. Please state your emergency." _

"_I need you to patch me through to Kurtis Stryker. It's an emergency!"_ Anya couldn't mask the terror in her voice as she and the lady spoke back and forth about her needing assistance and where she was. And then she said, _"There's this woman with white hair chasing after me on her motorcycle." _Kuai Liang looked at the cops in bewilderment. Was Anya talking about…Frost? Impossible! There was no way his student could get back to the States without going through the portal, and Cyrax would've told him if she had.

Now there was more arguing. The operator wasn't exactly being cooperative, and the Cryomancer found his anger rising towards the woman. It didn't matter who was chasing Anya. What mattered was that she was clearly scared and needed comfort, not some moronic cow telling her to calm down.

But to Anya's credit, she _did_ calm down. _"Listen to me,"_ she said. _"You need to send every cop you can to 7780 Sycamore Road now. The lady who lives there, Maggie Sullivan, is in danger. I think someone's going to try to kill her, if they haven't already."_

He looked at the cops. "My mother? Is she…is she dead?" he asked.

"No, thank God," Kabal said. "She's shaken up, but fine. We'll tell you about that in a minute. But you need to hear the rest of this first."

Anya's voice now changed from fearful to urgent. _"Stryker,"_ she said, _"I'll probably be dead by the time you hear this. I'm trying to get back to the base where Sonya and Jax can help me, but I don't think I'll make it. But it's imperative that you get this message to Kuai Liang." _In the background, Kuai Liang heard her motorcycle accelerate loudly, but he barely cared. He was stuck on the 'I'll probably be dead' part. _"Stryker, you have to tell him that Frost, Noob, and Smoke are trying to kill his mom. And Frost is trying to kill me. She's his sister, Kurtis. She's Sarah. He probably won't believe you, even if he hears this message himself, but please. You've got to convince him. She stole his special key and has been using it to get back and forth without him knowing. I'm trying to lure her away from Maggie, but if I fail, will you please tell him I'm sorry? I'm trying. I'm trying so hard."_

Sub-Zero suddenly felt punched in the gut. His sister? That was insane…or was it? He had to admit that even _he'd_ had a fleeting moment when he thought she might be. Frost looked like a member of his family, but he'd chocked that up to similar Cryomancer genetics and nothing more. But if it was true what Anya said, how'd she figure it out? And what was worse, his sister was clearly trying to kill the love of his life, a woman who was so brave that she'd willingly sacrifice herself to save his mother. Jesus, he'd _put_ Anya in this position like a sacrificial lamb. What had he done?

_ "Kurtis,"_ she continued, driving even more guilt into his heart, _"you also have to tell him I'm sorry for everything else. I was a selfish jerk. He was right. I was jealous. But it was only because I love him more than anything else in this world, and I didn't want to share him with anyone. I just…I just really believed that Fate meant for us to be together. But I ruined it because I'm stupid. And I'm so sorry I hurt you, Kuai Liang. I know I don't deserve it, but please forgive me one last time. I love you."_

He heard her start to cry, and he felt the same way, though he angrily blinked back the tears that stung at his eyes. _I'm sorry, too, baby, _he thought as he swallowed hard. The operator started speaking again, but was abruptly silenced by the sound of Anya's terrified shriek and tires squealing. A split second later, he heard a loud crash and glass shattering into millions of shards.

Kuai Liang now looked at Stryker and Kabal in alarm. "What happened?" he barked. "What happened to her? Tell me!" He felt the hysteria climbing in his voice, but he was powerless to stop it.

The two detectives exchanged a look. "Well," Stryker began slowly, "obviously she crashed. From what the witnesses said, she was in bad shape. Video evidence supports that."

"Video evidence?" he repeated.

"Yeah. Traffic was at a virtual standstill because of construction further ahead. So a lot of the witnesses pulled out their camera phones and recorded what happened next."

"I brought what we collected with me," Kabal said. "But it's…well, it's bad," he finally said. "I'll show it to you if you want, but man, trust me. You don't _want_ to."

"Yes, I do," Kuai Liang snapped. "I want to see it now."

"All right," he sighed. He pulled an electronic tablet from his gear, tapped the screen a few times, and handed it to the Cryomancer.

The footage had to have been taken by someone who was relatively close to the scene because Kuai Liang saw everything in perfect detail. Anya lay unconscious on the ground, her limbs twisted at weird angles. She had terrible road rash all over her body as well as the usual cuts and bruises. Blood seeped through the same clothes she'd been wearing when she stormed out of the Lin Kuei temple earlier that day. But what made his heart lurch and his stomach churn was the sight of the dent in her skull and the blood gushing from the wound. It soaked her hair and pooled around her head on the glass-covered asphalt.

"Anya?" he whispered as he gingerly touched the screen. How had she survived that? But to his surprise, her eyes sprang open and her face contorted in pain.

And now the footage moved off her and turned the opposite direction. There, a woman in a Lin Kuei uniform, a woman with white hair tied tightly in a bun on her crown, marched towards the crash site. Frost. Kuai Liang scowled at the sight.

"_Here piggy, piggy, piggy, piggy,"_ she then taunted as she crept closer to Anya. Her eyes were manic and black. The camera shot swiveled back to the crash.

"_Frost, why are you doing this? What did I ever do to you for you to hate me so much?"_ It was a fair question. Kuai Liang wondered the same thing.

"_You know, Anya, I like you much better now that you're dying,"_ she said as she knelt on her broken body with a cruel, delighted grin on her face. Rage burned through Kuai Liang, as much at himself as at his sister. Anya had been right all along. She _was_ a psychopath. It was obvious that she enjoyed watching her suffer. Why hadn't he listened to her?

"_Get off me!"_

Frost answered her by gripping her broken left arm and twisting it hard. Anya howled and started to cry. Kuai Liang grimaced, and he suddenly understood why Kabal had warned him not to watch. He couldn't bear to see Anya tortured. His hands started shaking with fury and guilt.

"_Oh, believe me, I am." _

"_I hope your brother kills you."_

_Don't worry, Anya. I will, _he silently vowed to her.

Now Frost dug her knee into one of Anya's broken femurs. Once more, Kuai Liang cringed as she screamed in agony. Fresh tears sprang to his eyes. His whole life had been an exercise in desensitization towards violence and bloodshed. But his teachers never accounted for how he'd feel like he'd failed to protect her from harm, or how he'd want to reach through the touch screen and save her but couldn't. The Cryomancer's hands shook harder now as his face burned.

"_You know what the beautiful part about this is, don't you?"_ Frost asked as she giggled wickedly. _"You walked off and abandoned him. So it'll be a while before he learns about what happens to you. And by then, I'll have him completely poisoned against you. He'll never forgive you for your 'betrayal.' So you get to die knowing that he's going to spend the rest of his life despising you with every fiber of his being. And it's because of me!"_

Poison him against her? It wasn't enough for her to break them up, attack her, and torture her, but she had to turn him against her as well? And it would've worked had Anya not been smart enough to call 911 to relay a message to Stryker. Hell, it had already worked. Kuai Liang was going to ask for Anya's forgiveness until Frost showed up and convinced him that she was a traitor not to be reconciled with. He could barely control his fury now.

Then Frost wrapped her fingers around Anya's neck in an obvious attempt to freeze her. Panic welled up in Sub-Zero more than ever when he saw his beloved's eyes roll into the back of her head and her eyelids slowly close. She was so helpless from her crash injuries that she couldn't even resist.

"No!" he yelled at the screen without meaning to. "Anya!"

And then he saw something that shocked the hell out of him. Noob Saibot came from nowhere and kicked Frost off Anya's motionless body just as Smoke knelt beside her and started scanning her with his computer implants. As his brother and sister argued on the screen, Kuai Liang was never more grateful for Bi-han than at that moment.

"_This woman is off limits to you. Now go back to the Lin Kuei temple and wait for further orders, or I'm going to show you how our father helped me reach my full potential." _Bi-han's words, which mirrored his own thoughts, revealed how Frost had been sent to win the Lin Kuei tournament so she could spy on him for Quan Chi.

Frost then attacked Noob. Big mistake. Even when he was alive, he was ruthless and fierce. It was damn near impossible to beat him in a fight. Kuai Liang knew. He'd only tried a thousand times, and lost most of those times. Now that Bi-han was a demon wraith split into two, he was even more challenging to defeat. But now, he rooted for his brother to tear Frost limb from limb.

As expected, the battle lasted only a few seconds with Noob, in conjunction with Saibot, winning. He started to choke her and said, _"I will not repeat myself again. Go back to the temple and await further orders." _

"_You…you can only delay me. I will kill her."_

"_Perhaps. I don't really care what happens to this wretched woman once Quan Chi is done with her. But until then, you'll do what you're told. Or you won't have to worry about what he might do to you because I'll do it for him. Do you understand me, Sister?"_

Noob immediately released Frost, who coughed like a seal barks. But she said nothing more as she pulled an orange disk from inside her uniform, froze it with her powers, and ran through the portal. So Anya had been right about that as well. Frost _had_ stolen his portal key to get back and forth. Kuai Liang's list of reasons to hate her was steadily growing.

Now Noob knelt beside Anya and rested one hand on her forehead and the fingers on his other hand on her throat. It looked like he was checking for her pulse. Soon satisfied with what he felt, he stroked her cheek as if to comfort her. Kuai Liang furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. What the hell? His brother had no compassion anymore, no empathy. But then again, his actions said otherwise. A faint glimmer of hope for Bi-han flashed through his heart.

Kuai Liang inhaled sharply as Smoke now informed Noob that Anya only had minutes to live and needed immediate medical attention. _Goddamn it, then get her to the hospital! _he yelled at them both inside his head.

"_Let's get her to Quan Chi then. If what you say is true, we have to hurry. I will not be punished for Frost's stupidity." _

With that, Smoke scooped her into his arms while Noob opened one of his tarry black portals, and then all three disappeared through it. Now Kuai Liang understood why Stryker and Kabal couldn't tell him if Anya was dead or not. His heart ached as the video footage ended.

"Maybe Quan Chi healed her like Shang Tsung healed me," Kabal quietly suggested. "I'm…I'm praying that's what happened. And if not…" he trailed off, but continued a long moment later. "I just hope she went quickly-"

"You shut your mouth," the Cryomancer snapped as he pointed at the masked man. "She's _not_ gone."

"I know this is hard for you, Kuai Liang, but-"

"What about my mother?" he abruptly changed the subject before he lost all his composure. His emotions swirled like an angry blizzard inside him. "What did she say?"

Stryker stepped in now. "She said Frost broke in and attacked her. Put one of her ice daggers to her throat. Even cut her a little." Sub-Zero's rage deepened as the detective continued. "Then she said Noob and Smoke showed up, and that Noob seemed really pissed off that she'd disobeyed orders. They were all so busy arguing with each other that Anya seized her window of opportunity and took off running to lure them away. Of course, Frost was the only one who took the bait. The other two stayed behind."

"It might interest you to know that they had orders to kill your mother," Kabal added. "But for some reason, Noob told Smoke to stand down. He seems to be the team captain or something."

Kuai Liang was relieved that at least Maggie was okay. But his mind and heart still thought about Anya. He was going to go look for her just as soon as he ripped his sister's spine out. He ground his teeth as he imagined all the ways he could torture her.

"There's more," the masked man said. "They're the ones who've been killing our families. We caught them on surveillance at my family's flower shop. Frost killed my father. But we also caught them on camera at Sonya's mother's apartment complex and at the film studio where Johnny's brother worked."

Sub-Zero stared at him, literally seeing the whole world in shades of red. "I can't do anything about Noob or Smoke, but I _can_ put that rabid dog of a sister down."

"No, wait!" Stryker exclaimed as the Cryomancer stalked towards the campfire. For the second time that night, he grabbed his arm and yanked on him, this time to stop him. "Listen. I know how you feel-"

"No, I don't think you do," he growled, ready to punch something.

"At least Anya might still be alive," he pointed out. "My kid brother isn't."

"All the more reason for me to kill her," he argued. "I'll avenge your brother, and everyone's family. Not just my own."

"Hey, don't you think I wanted to rip her heart out myself when I saw her sitting on that log?" Stryker asked. "You don't know how hard it was for me not to shoot her on the spot. But Kabal pointed out that she doesn't know we know. So we could keep an eye on her and see what she does. Maybe try to figure out what she knows."

Kuai Liang swallowed hard. The man had a point. "So are you saying I should pretend like everything's alright and that she isn't a monster?"

"I think we could get a lot of info from her, so yeah."

"Good point. No sale." He started trekking towards the distant glow of fire.

"Sub-Zero, you have to control yourself," Kabal interjected. "What if she knows what happened to Anya? I know how angry you must be right now because it's all I can do to not punch that cunt in her face, but if there's even the slightest chance of using Frost to save Anya and stop Quan Chi, we've got to take it."

The Cryomancer inhaled deeply before he looked at the ground in concession. "Fine," he reluctantly agreed. "We should get back before everyone starts to wonder what we're up to."

Stryker patted him reassuringly on the shoulder before taking point and leading them through the Forbidden Forest. Kuai Liang and Kabal walked side by side behind him. As they trudged along, the masked man glanced over at him.

"It may not mean much coming from me," he began in his raspy voice, "but I really am sorry about everything that happened with Anya. It wasn't what you thought, you know."

"I'm going to stop you right there," he snapped. "I don't want to talk about her with you."

"Oh, so you can kill me over her, but not talk to me about her?"

"Isn't it great how that works?"

"Whatever, man. I said my peace."

The rest of the hike back was spent in tense silence. Hatred overflowed in his heart for Frost, but of even greater concern was his worry for Anya. He mentally rattled off every prayer in every religion he knew, and he even found himself begging for Himavat to come to his aid. Kuai Liang kept glancing into the darkness of the trees, expecting to see the Elder God, but there was nothing. Soon, the three men rejoined the others.

"Have a nice talk?" Frost sneered at him when she saw him. She was now standing by the fire, and she crossed her arms when she saw him approach.

"Yeah," he said. "Now I want to talk to you. Alone."

"Yes, Grandmaster," she said as she lifted a quizzical eyebrow.

"Um, I don't think you should-" Stryker trailed off as panic flooded his eyes.

"I do," the other hissed, abruptly cutting him off. The cop sighed.

Kuai Liang motioned for Frost to follow him into the Forbidden Forest. He didn't want to confront her before the others. It wasn't that he didn't want them to see him lose control over his emotions and do something as drastic as chopping her into pieces with a kori sword. What it amounted to was that his companions all had an ax to grind with his long lost sister, and quite frankly, he didn't want to share his vengeance with them. And that psychopathic bloodlust boiling inside of him only grew stronger when she faced him and grinned. Something about that smile pissed him off more than he already was. Though it seemed jocular on the surface, Sub-Zero now felt something more sinister behind it. He'd been so blind. So anxious to work with a young Cryomancer, he'd completely lost his common sense and logic. And Anya had paid the price. He just wanted to knock that grin right off Frost's face.

Ice involuntarily flooded his arms, but this time he didn't fight it. He welcomed it. And after he'd stood directly before her and stared deeply into those insane blue eyes, he violently swung his fist at her and plowed it into her jaw as hard as he could. A loud crack filled the air as she yelped in surprise and tumbled backwards through the fire, soon falling on her butt. While Frost groaned in obvious pain, he stalked towards her until he stood above her.

"I know what you did to Anya," Kuai Liang snarled as she spat out a mouthful of blood and teeth. "And I know who you really are. _Sarah_."


	20. Sibling Rivalry

**Author's Note: Thank you HavenRose and Grandmaster SubZero for giving me some of the ideas for this chapter, even though I had to scrap a couple of them this time around. Sorry, GS! But don't worry, there's still time for me to do what you suggested in future chapters ;)**

* * *

Frost gazed up at him with a contemptuous grin as she smeared the blood from her split lip. "Finally figured it out, did you?" she chided and then sneered. "Intelligence and common sense must skip the men in our family. Mommy figured me out right away."

"You're dead!" he cried as he lunged for her.

Frost tried to duck to the side to avoid him, but he caught her by her white bun and yanked her to her knees. She squealed, but was only momentarily in pain before she produced an ice dagger in her hand and quickly cut through her hair. Kuai Liang stumbled back with her bun in his hand while she rolled to the side and jumped to her feet. She scowled as she ran a gloved hand over her scalp, and felt the short tresses.

"Son-of-a-bitch!" she cursed. "I _liked_ my hair the way it was! You know, only _bitches_ pull hair in a fight, Brother."

Instantly, he slid on a sheet of ice and knocked her to the ground. Kuai Liang huffed in fury as she bounced into one of the man-eating trees and it caught her uniform in its mouth. She yelped in mild panic as it started to chew, so she turned her palms around and froze it. But still she remained stuck much to her brother's delight. She saw Sub-Zero coming and tried to produce another dagger to stab him with, but he furiously slapped it aside and then he punched her again.

"You're about to regret the moment you decided to mess with Anya," the Cryomancer growled as he drove his fist into her gut now and watched as she doubled over. Then he drove an ice dagger of his own into her arm and twisted it slowly, feeling sick satisfaction course through him as he watched her screech in pain. He barely noticed when Kabal trotted up with his hook swords drawn.

"Goddamn it, Sub-Zero!" he roared, but the Cryomancer barely noticed him. "You said you'd keep this under your hat for now."

"I lied," he growled, his eyes never leaving Frost's.

"You're better than this, man," his comrade tried to soothe. "You're not a murderer like she is."

"You don't know me," he snarled, the rage swirling out of control in his mind. "My whole family…we're _all_ monsters. I'm just acting the part for once." He stabbed it in deeper and twisted it harder. Frost's pained howls, however, quickly collapsed into insane giggles.

"That's it, Brother," she panted as she grinned evilly again. "That's more like it. Be a Grandmaster I can respect. Don't be weak like my _Otousan_, Shinji."

"Jesus Christ, Sub-Zero," Kabal said in his raspy voice, "what would Anya say if she could see you right now? This isn't you. This isn't the guy she loves."

"Well, she's not here right now, is she?" he hissed as he looked back at his partner. "And why?" He looked back at his sister and glared as he clamped a hand around her throat. "Because this _witch_ hunted her down like a dog." With an anguished yell, he backhanded her. His black and blue gauntlets split open her lip at the side.

"I did you a favor," the woman retorted through a mouthful of thick blood when he finally yanked the knife out of her upper arm.

"She was gonna be my wife!" he yelled as he now slammed it into Frost's femur. She wailed. Involuntary tears exploded from her eyes as he sucked down angry breaths. He didn't think he could enjoy torturing a person so much.

Frost soon met his eyes again. "Not anymore," she said a moment later. "In spite of our brother, Captain Killjoy, and his valiant efforts to save her, he didn't get her to Quan Chi in time. Sweet little Anya didn't make it."

The words stabbed Sub-Zero in the gut, and the pain growing in his belly hurt worse than the time Sareena threw one of her knives at him. Suddenly, he couldn't breathe. "No," he muttered, defeated. Tears sprang to his eyes as all his hopes for his future with Anya leaked out. Every one represented a single thing in their life with each other, from every nap they would've taken in each other's arms to every single child they would have brought into the world together. All gone. And Anya had died believing what Frost told her: that he hated her.

"Don't listen to her, Snowman!" Kabal yelled. "She's lying."

"Am I?" Frost sneered. "You should have seen it, Brother," she started. "My ice ball landed in just the right place. Your tips for making my shots more accurate really helped improve my aim. She was going so fast on that motorcycle that when she hit my patch of ice, there was nothing she could do to stop herself. She literally went splat like a pancake. I laughed _so_ hard when I saw it. So thank you for that, Kuai Liang. That really made my day, and without you training me with such dedication, I don't think I could've pulled off that shot."

The Cryomancer's hands trembled violently from rage. "Why?" he forced himself to say as his tears involuntarily slipped down his face.

Beneath his imposing frame, she grinned. "Why? Because I want nothing more in this world than to see you wail over your beloved's body," she hissed. "Even if only metaphorically speaking. I think Quan Chi had Sareena toss her body into the acid pool."

Sub-Zero roared as he started to punch her again, but this time she produced an ice dagger and sliced her blue tunic with it, sliding beneath his arm to get free again. He yelped as his fist bounced off the frozen tree trunk. His already sore knuckles screamed at him for it, but he ignored the pain and whirled around to face her. Smaller and more nimble than her brother, Frost had easily scrambled out of his reach and leapt like a cat onto a boulder nearby.

She giggled inhumanly, chilling Kuai Liang's blood as he climbed to his feet. When she stopped cackling like a hyena, she stared at Kabal. "By the way, we're _all_ murderers, Freak Show," she announced. "It's just that I choose not to hide behind the excuse that my killing is for a loftier purpose. I kill because I enjoy it. Of course, I'm not greedy. I shared the fun with Noob and Smoke this time."

"How could you go after our families?" Kuai Liang asked furiously. "They're innocent."

She crossed her arms arrogantly and stuck out her chin. "Baby, I've killed a lot more for a lot less," she replied.

"You killed my father!" Kabal roared as he stood beside Kuai Liang.

"Of course I did," she replied matter-of-factly. "And I was just wondering. When I sliced him up, how long did it take him to die?"

Kabal snarled and lunged at her just as Sub-Zero fell backwards into a pool of ice on the ground and teleported to a spot behind Frost. It happened so fast that even before the lightning quick detective reached her, the Cryomancer had already yanked her off her rock by the time she realized what he'd done. With a ferocious growl, he threw her face-first into the dirt and then dove on top of her, driving his elbow into her nose before he drew his fist backwards across her cheek.

Now Kuai Liang, his burning tears still streaming from his eyes, tried to slap her, but Frost giggled as she batted his hand away and caught his other arm. Quickly, she scrambled to her knees and wrapped her powerful arms around his neck, putting him in a headlock. Then, she bit into his ear like a wild animal. Fire suddenly screamed through his earlobe as her teeth ground into his flesh, and he howled as he dragged her towards the frozen tree. Trying to ignore the ripping pain, he kicked off its trunk enough to yank her head down and knee her in the forehead.

Frost immediately let go, and as hot blood spilled from his wound onto his neck, Kuai Liang slammed his elbow into her gut. Then he backhanded her, and she stumbled between the trees. Kabal stalked towards her then, but the Cryomancer held his hand up to stop him. "No, I've got her," he said with a pant as he limped towards her. "I don't want her to hurt any more of my friends. Just don't let her escape, whatever you do."

His ear throbbed, the blood vessels beneath the bite marks pulsating violently, but he ignored the fiery pain. When he saw that jack-o-lantern expression spread across her face as she regained her composure, his blood boiled inside of him and he forgot all physical discomfort. He never wanted to kill somebody more in his life.

The Cryomancer crept closer to his sister as he threw a punch with his right and then with his left. She blocked both, so he stepped into her and cracked her jaw with his elbow. Blood exploded from her mouth, but she shrilly squealed as she whirled counterclockwise and sprang in the air, driving her foot into his chest. Kuai Liang stumbled but he stayed on his feet. She charged at him, but he threw a straight punch at her. Frost dodged to the side, so he adjusted and threw another one. This time, she stepped to the outside of his arm and dug her fist into his kidney with a powerful blow. For being much smaller than him, she was extremely strong. Sub-Zero felt blinding pain erupt from his side as she cackled at him.

"Ha-ha! I got you good!" she yelled at him in a sing-song voice like a child. He gripped his side as he staggered. "I bet you'll pee blood for a week now!" With that, she screamed maniacally and kicked him in his ribs, the left side where his flail chest had been. A sharp, crackling pain like bones breaking scraped at his lungs. He coughed after she knocked the wind out of him.

"You okay, man?" the masked man asked in concern, which surprised him given his own behavior that afternoon.

He glanced at him and nodded. "Yeah."

Frost dropped her chin halfway to her chest as she glared at him. "I'm going to make a grand show of your death, Brother," she threatened.

"It's gonna take a lot more than you to kill me, Frost," Kuai Liang snarled at her. "I've survived our father, Grandmaster Oniro, beatings with a cat-o-nine-tails, the Cyber Initiative, Mortal Kombat, getting stabbed, getting crushed, and an Apocalypse. You? You're _nothing_, little girl."

A dark cloud floated over her face. "Little girl?" she repeated. "I'll show you 'little.'"

Sub-Zero decided to throw some of her arrogance back in her face. "Bring it, _bitch_."

Frost shrieked angrily and incoherently at being called a bitch. She lunged at him and tried to punch him in the head, but he deflected it with his outstretched palm. Then he snap-kicked her in the gut with his good leg and then backhanded her with his closed fist before she stumbled beyond his reach. The female Cryomancer toppled to the ground with a startled cry. Sub-Zero took the opportunity to stomp on her, but she sensed his attack and rolled to the side a second before his foot plowed into the trampled dirt.

Frost now sprang to her feet with two ice daggers held tightly in each palm. She swung her arm at his chest to cut him, but Kuai Liang leaned back enough so that the weapon skirted harmlessly over his body. She screeched in annoyance, so she snap-kicked at his groin. This time, he easily blocked her. She wasted no time stabbing at him again with her opposite hand, but as he blocked this time, she anticipated his movements. She gracefully sidestepped and shoved her elbow into his cheekbone, knocking him into the tree behind him. Just as she had only moments ago, he became stuck when the monstrous plant bit into his clothes and he'd been forced to freeze it to save himself. It filled him with a momentary sense of déjà vu; he'd barely gotten away from one of these trees last time he was in Outworld and the Lin Kuei was chasing him. The Cryomancer quickly produced a kori sword, but found the angle to be a tad awkward to cut himself loose immediately, a detail his sister noticed as well. She stalked towards him like a lion hunting a gazelle.

Kabal jumped into the fight now to distract her while Kuai Liang worked to get loose, and Frost snickered as he stood between them with his hook swords crossed in front of his face. "What, are you Sub-Zero's fan girl or something?" she jeered.

"I hate you Frost," he began angrily, "I really do. Honestly, it keeps me up at night. So I'm going to have to kill you now."

"Your confidence is amusing, Freak Show," the female Cryomancer hissed. "Especially since you and my brother are both about to die like slaves."

The masked man grunted as he bolted towards her and then slashed one of his swords at her. The weapon found Frost's cheek, cutting a perfect line deep into the otherwise flawless tissue, and she yelped as Kabal's lightning fast momentum turned him completely around. Now he tried to side-kick her in the chest, but now she paid him back for the oozing gash on her face as she cut deep into his knee with one of the daggers and pushed it away from her. Through his mask, he moaned, and it sounded almost digital. While the detective stumbled to regain his balance but failing, Frost threw a left hook with her fingers curled around an icy hilt. Kabal awkwardly blocked the punch, but the female Cryomancer jumped into the air and kicked him backwards.

With that, she passed one of the daggers to the other hand and formed a glowing blue orb in her palm before she threw it at the cop's feet. Unlike ordinary ice balls, this one exploded on impact and chucked him into the air like a rag doll. Kabal landed a second later on the ground with a pained thud and small shards of ice crystals jutting from his legs. In one fell swoop, she'd taken out his greatest advantage over her: his ability to run.

But Frost was so distracted by him that she didn't remember Sub-Zero until he, now free of the man-eating tree, launched himself at her on an ice slide he made on the barren ground. Startled when he rammed into her back, she dropped a knife as she stumbled around to face him with a frustrated grunt. Her eyes had lost any semblance of humanity. They were raw and animal-like now.

With that, Kuai Liang stalked towards her like a predator on the hunt, a mad look in his eyes now as well. She saw his expression and chortled before she stabbed at him with her other ice dagger a couple times. His hand finally shot out and pulled her arm between his, and he jarred her knife hand to the side. Frost refused to let go of her weapon.

With a determined war cry, she threw a right hook at Kuai Liang and smashed her fist into his jaw. He loosened his hold on her enough for her to throw another punch straight at his nose, but this time she missed. Angrily, she swung her arm around to backhand him with her fist, but now he caught her wrist with one hand and punched her in the sternum with the other. She lurched forward, but still managed to wriggle free, bat away his hand, and throw a straight punch at his face. When Sub-Zero blocked her assault, Frost growled as she whirled around to backhand him. But again he blocked it, threw a punch of his own, and then head-butted her directly in the forehead. His blood boiled with mild gratification as she yelped and staggered backwards, clutching her now gushing nose.

Kuai Liang stalked towards her, but she moved her hands from her face and sidestepped. The two siblings glared at each other as they paced around each other in a half circle until Frost finally threw a straight punch at him. He blocked it with his right hand and then plunged his fist into her gut with his left. She groaned as he grabbed her knife hand once more and yanked her closer to him to wrestle the ice dagger loose. With a ferocious roar, she tried to punch him in the head and succeeded, but he ignored the hard blow to his temple and whipped her with his bent elbow once more.

Frost yelped in pain, and immediately shoved him backwards with resurgent strength, still clinging to her frozen knife. Sub-Zero, startled, crashed to the ground in a heap. She grunted in fury as she lunged towards him, but he promptly booted her in the solar plexus. She stumbled into the rock while her brother flipped to his feet and produced an ice dagger of his own, one that was slightly longer and narrower than hers.

The female Cryomancer screamed as she charged towards him and swiped her dagger at him, but she missed when Kuai Liang knocked her hand away. With a shrill, incoherent shout, she threw a right cross at him with her free hand, but he blocked and prompted her to try with her knife hand. Once more, he deflected her attack and then uppercut her before rearing back and throwing a right hook. She stumbled and then stepped into a sloppily executed roundhouse kick that he easily ducked. She grunted in frustration as she snap-kicked at him, but he caught her leg and tried to decenter her.

It didn't work like he'd planned. Frost's balance was steady, and instead of panicking because she was being held at his mercy, she calmly punched him in the jaw. Kuai Liang's head snapped to the side and he released her, but even as he stumbled he caught his sister's slender wrist. Instantly, he shoved his ice dagger down through the top of her hand and grinned in his own evil satisfaction as she screamed, dropped her own dagger, and sank halfway to her knees. The Cryomancer didn't let her fall all the way; as she writhed in agony in his grip, he side-kicked her in the gut.

Frost flew into the nearby boulder, but did not fall. Tears streamed down her face now, but Kuai Liang had no pity for her. Where was _her_ mercy when Anya was suffering on that roadside in New York? But his sister recovered quicker than he anticipated. With eyes still wet, she dropped her chin to her chest and glared maniacally at him as she slowly slid the dagger from her wound. Sub-Zero watched in horrified amazement as she didn't even flinch at what had to be excruciating pain. Blood gushed from the injury as the blade slid through. Then Frost screamed as she threw the knife at him. He ducked and it flew harmlessly into the trees.

Now she charged after him, but he threw up his hands and caught her by the chin before she completely reached him. As he held her, he swiftly swept her off her feet when he curled his leg around hers and yanked on her knees with it. Firmly planted, she didn't fall completely, so he yanked her arm behind his head before he leaned down and elbowed her in the kidney. She doubled over, undoubtedly experiencing the same sharp pain that he'd felt earlier stab at her gut from the inside out. Finally, he whirled around her and drove his elbow into her temple. She fell down, semi-conscious.

Kuai Liang wasn't satisfied with this victory, however. Frost still drew breath. So he hobbled towards her as a kori sword sprang from his palms and he poised to run her through with it. _For Anya!_ he inwardly yelled as his sister giggled softly on the ground and he started to plunge the blade towards her body. But a sudden ball of ghastly purplish energy hit him in the gut and violently knocked him backwards into the boulder, leaving him numb throughout his body. Kuai Liang tried to move, but found he couldn't, and he slumped to the ground.

He and Kabal both looked around and saw Sareena now standing on top of the boulder with a cocky smirk on her face and her sharp eyes trained on the immobilized Cryomancer. She clicked her tongue. "Now, now, now, baby," she began as she waved her index finger at him like a mother. "Is that any way to treat your little sister? She's the baby, after all."

"Sareena," he growled as he fought the effects of the energy ball to no avail. "What are you doing here?"

"Just coming to see the family reunion to end all family reunions," she replied as she nodded towards Frost's body, and to Noob Saibot who held her in his arms. While the Earthrealm warriors had been distracted by the demoness, the wraith had teleported to her side and picked her up.

"What did you do to Sub-Zero?" Kabal demanded to know as he looked at the Cryomancer lying helplessly on the ground beside him.

"Oh, calm down. He'll be fine," Sareena said. "Just a little something to ensure we can make a graceful exit."

"Bi-han!" Kuai Liang screamed, completely helpless on the ground. "You bastard! How could you do this to me? How could you stop me from killing her?" Even to his own ears, he sounded like a raving lunatic.

"My _name _is Noob Saibot," the wraith growled. "Why can't you remember that? I'm not your brother anymore."

"I don't know what you did to me, but when I get out of this, I'm coming for her. And then I'm coming for you!"

"You know where to find me," the other replied in his demonically deep voice. "Shao Kahn's palace at the center of Outworld." With that, he disappeared through his portal with Frost in his arms.

Sareena grinned as she jumped off the rock and knelt beside him. "Oh, poor Kuai Liang," she cooed in a sultry tone. "You know, if it was up to me, I'd let you kill your little sister. I can't _stand _that bitch. And I really do feel terrible for our falling out last year, so I promise that at some point, I'll make it up to you. But right now, Quan Chi needs his errand girl alive, so we're all kind of stuck with her. Sorry about that, baby." She held his chin with one of her gloved fingers and then planted a soft kiss on his lips before he snarled and yanked his head out of her grasp. With a faint grin, she tousled his hair and stood once more. And then a pillar of fire enveloped her and whisked her away before she heard the sound of the Cryomancer's furious roar cut through the eternal night.


	21. A Night in Shao Kahn's Palace

A pounding headache woke the woman from her sleep, and she slowly sat upright as she held her skull in both hands. She had no idea who she was, or even where she was. The dark, candlelit bedchamber was not familiar to her, but then again, she had no idea why it should be. There was nothing in her mind but a brilliant white curtain that overpowered everything behind it. When she concentrated and tried to pull the curtain back, something sharp and hot like a fireplace poker stabbed the inside of her brain, prompting her to groan in agony.

Finally, the woman gave up.

Soon after the pain subsided, she surveyed her surroundings again. The small room disturbed her. A tapestry of a great and bloody battle hung over a four-poster bed constructed of some humanoid creature's bones. She sat on its mattress, curling the sheets around her body like a protective shield as she stared apprehensively at the grotesque suits of armor flanking either side of the heavy wooden chamber door. The bodies seemed normal enough, but the eyeholes in their helmets had been fixed with ruby red lenses that bubbled out like an insect's eyes and glowed in the candlelight, making them look more like evil sentries than inanimate objects.

The woman felt decidedly uncomfortable in that room, and her fear was reinforced by her lack of memory. She had to get out. Of this, she was certain. So after she slid from the gruesome bed and crossed the short distance to the door, she slipped into the grand hall. It too was dimly lit by candles, and it featured more of the same décor. Bizarre suits of armor like those in her room were evenly spaced several feet apart. On the walls above them hung immense tapestries of more violent battles; some took place on the sea, some on the land, some in dense forests, and some in barren black landscapes. A massive man wearing a mask made from bone was featured in them all. Sometimes he was on the front lines charging into battle with a hammer, and sometimes with a spear, and then other times he sat astride a weird beast at the rear of his army. His colors and insignia flew on banners around him. Whoever owned this castle or palace, presumably the man in the tapestries, had clearly meant to intimidate and terrorize his servants and guests by demonstrating his military might.

It worked. The woman crept through the halls in fear of him, as if he, wherever he presently was, could see her sneaking about and darting behind suit of armor to suit of armor. She knew not what she looked for, only that she was confident it could not be found here in this grotesque nightmare of a place, under the ever-watchful red eyes of that terrible man.

Yet interestingly enough, she was certain she knew him, and not merely because she stood in the middle of what had to be _his_ palace. A different kind of tapestry, a portrait, lured her into the open hallway. The woman stood beneath it in awe, studying the way he put his hands on his hips, and the way his bare, muscly chest puffed forward in pride as he glared upon the corridor with his menacing expression. For a second, she saw a graveyard somewhere far away. Now, standing in that hallway and concentrating on him intently, she felt his hot tongue lick her neck. Her skin suddenly crawled. He had touched her, and it had not been a pleasant exchange.

The woman was so focused on the painting that she did not notice the short man standing behind her. He placed his hand on her shoulder and she jumped with a startled squeal. So much for trying to be quiet. She whirled around and faced him, noting the aged wrinkles around kind, almond-shaped eyes. His hair and eyebrows were snow white, a stark contrast to the black silk robes he wore on his thin body. He smiled broadly at her, and she thought she recognized a trace of relief in his expression.

"Hello, little one," he greeted. For the first time since waking, she knew she was completely safe in his presence. The woman felt instantly at ease. He gently cupped her cheek with his old hands.

"Who are you?" she whispered nervously as she looked up and down the hallway. She suspected she was not supposed to leave her room.

"My name is Xiao-Ping," he told her. "But I think the real question you want to ask is 'Who am I'?"

"How'd you know?"

"Because I'm smarter than the average bear," he joked as he patted her cheek reassuringly. "And listen to this old bear when he tells you something very important, my good, precious child: do _not_, under _any _circumstances, trust a man named Rain. And guard your trust for others jealously."

"But I don't know anyone named Rain," she protested. "At least, I don't _think_ I do."

"You will, little one. You will. And he will try to lead you astray. Water flows inside of his soul like it does in yours, but inside him it is stagnant and polluted. Do not let him corrupt the purity of your Water. From all Water does life has its beginning."

Then he seemed to stare off in the distance, and he did so intently to the point that the woman turned around to see what it was he was looking at, but saw nothing of note. Then Xiao-Ping closed his eyes. "Become one with this great sea of the Waters of Creation. Dive deep into it until you have lost yourself. And having lost yourself, you will find yourself again."

She shook her head in confusion. "I don't understand."

He opened his eyes and stared deeply into hers. Though she expected to see rich brown, she was surprised by a blue so dark it was black. The color mesmerized her into tranquility, like she was standing on a shoreline staring at the sea. When she came to that conclusion somewhere deep inside her mind, she suddenly felt like she was floating on water in a vast ocean, and she wanted to stay there forever.

But Xiao-Ping had no such intentions of letting her linger in that peace. He averted his eyes to her hand and tenderly grabbed it before threading his fingers through hers. Now he looked up at her once again. "Your _name_ is Anya," he said with such conviction that she felt something bend inside her mind to the point of snapping. A blinding pain exploded through her brain then, and she crumpled as blood dribbled from her nose onto her white dress. She dabbed at it with her fingers, groaning on all fours until the headache subsided.

When the pain finally released its hold over her, Anya staggered to her feet and noticed that Xiao-Ping was gone. She glanced around in confusion, but then shrugged. At least he'd told her what her name was before he took off. And it was a name she liked. There was a certain lulling melody to it.

Xiao-Ping was soon replaced by the sound of metal clanking and men shouting in the distance. At first, she panicked, certain that whoever kept her in this palace had discovered she was out of her room and was now searching for her, and she thought of running in the opposite direction. But when she listened more carefully, she realized it came from a room at the end of the corridor. Her curiosity compelled her to investigate further, so she crept towards the noise.

The double wooden doors at the end of the hallway stretched from floor to the cathedral ceiling, and they were slightly ajar as if someone had tried to close them but hadn't completely succeeded. Anya squeezed through, thankful that she was thin because she still had to suck in her belly to enter. If she was even ten pounds heavier, she wasn't getting in the room unnoticed.

Inside was a massive two-level chamber. The upper level, the one she stepped on, was more like a balcony that overlooked the level below. It was vacant up here, even devoid of the demonic suits of armor, and it was shrouded in darkness. Below, however, was a brilliantly lit room that appeared to be where warrior's trained. Anya noted the stacks of practice weapons – swords, axes, knives, bo staffs, and more – strategically placed around the room. There were dummies shoved into corners, and a ring roped off with thick cords. But what forced her to choke on her breath were the warriors standing around the ring as two men sparred inside it.

But they were not men like anything she'd seen. Or at least, so she thought. One man had yellowish skin and beady orange eyes, giving him a decidedly freakish appearance. But what frightened Anya was his mouth full of three inch long needle-like fangs, almost like that of some prehistoric monster she instinctively knew but could not remember the name of. On his arms, or rather protruding _from_ his arms, were bony blades that curved out well beyond his fingertips.

His opponent looked more reptilian like the prehistoric beast she imagined; he had green, scaly skin and his yellow eyes were divided by a vertical pupil. Drawing further parallels, Anya noted the three-toed feet armed with sharp claws, and she feared his big toe, which was substantially larger than the others because a massive claw shaped like a hook protruded from the tip. Something told her that he could eviscerate a person if he decided to jump on the poor victim.

The woman watched the two creatures fight in the ring, cheered on by their fellow warriors, also of the arm sword and claw hook persuasions. Neither fighter seemed afraid of the other's freakish natural weapons, and neither did they go easy on each other for drilling purposes. It soon became apparent that the match was to the death, and there was no love lost between the two races. In blinding fury, the man with swords jutting from his forearms attacked the lizard man, but with primal growling consistent with the raspy and guttural tones of a reptile, he retaliated and spat some sort of green goop at his enemy. But while he missed his target, it splatted onto a nearby wall and dissolved it like acid. This volley of attacks continued for a couple minutes before the reptilian creature finally did as Anya predicted: he jumped feet-first into the other and ripped the man's belly in one fell swoop.

She couldn't stifle her scream as hot, steaming entrails exploded onto the mat and blood pooled around the killer's feet. She tried to cover her mouth, but it was too late. Every last man beneath her spotted her lurking in the shadows. One of the bald, toothy men, pointed one of his arm swords at her and screamed, "Get the human!"

Anya wasn't going to wait around for that. By the time they ran up the stairs to the balcony, she had long since fled from the training hall and was now bolting as fast as she could in the opposite direction. Her bare feet kept tripping over the long skirts of her dress, and when she lifted the excessive fabric to help her, it had the opposite effect: her speed involuntarily decreased. Still, she wasn't going to let a lizard man eviscerate her with his toenail, so she pressed on, darting around sharp corners while the ruthless tyrant in the tapestries followed her with his red eyes. Suddenly, an alarm sounded around her, starting above but echoing through, and it was deafening. Anya dropped her skirts to cover her ears, but to no avail.

And then something raced by her unseen, though wind heralded its presence. Timid like a prey animal, she stopped and cowered, gazing around for the newcomer but saw nothing. A second later, however, something invisible tackled her and shoved her into the marble floor with a hard crack. The air exploded from her lungs, and Anya gasped to recover her breath. As she choked and tried to gulp in air, her attacker materialized on top of her. It was one of the lizard men, though not the one from the cage match. This one's face was protected by a mask and cowl much like…much like…whose? she vaguely wondered. But in the exposed eyes, she saw his reptilian eyes more clearly now. Coated with a slimy membrane, she noticed that he had not one, but _two_ sets of eyelids that he blinked in a uniform pattern every time.

He studied her with those eerie eyes as he pinned her to the ground with a clawed fist clamped over her throat. His touch enraged her on a level she did not know was possible; how dare he touch her like he had the right? Anya's fury compelled her to start punching him in the face and mask without restraint. She scarcely noticed the way her knuckles split open on the sharp corners of the lizard man's mask, and how those cuts wept more blood onto her clothes and skin. He tolerated her abuse only for so long before he finally back-fisted her in the jaw, snapping her head violently to the right. It hurt, and now she spat blood from her mouth as her cheek and eye orbit swelled into painful balloons, but that wasn't what made her burst into tears. And she couldn't identify why if someone cared enough to ask her.

"Get off her, Reptile, you dirty animal!" a deep voice snarled. Anya looked through teary eyes to see a handsome man dressed in an ornate purple tunic worn over a tight black undershirt that slightly exposed his muscular chest. Clearly a warrior, he wore protective black armor on his wrists, elbows, knees, and boots. Lines of gold thread trimmed his uniform, and even the black shoulder pads pointed upwards at a sharp, curved angle.

Reptile obeyed his command like a dutiful underling, and when he scurried off, the newcomer knelt beside her to offer her a helping hand. Anya gratefully accepted it, but was jolted by sudden apprehension. She couldn't explain her sudden and irrational fear of this man who'd saved her from evisceration and was now, very gentlemanly, helping her to her feet. And yet, there it was, like a handful of wriggling worms packed into a tight ball inside her chest.

Further confusing her was the man's angelic face. Sparkling amethyst eyes framed by long, black lashes were set into a strong face with a patrician nose and a joven lightheartedness in his expression. He wore his longish black-brown locks in a top-knot on his head. The top knot, additionally, was decorated by a gold cuff that almost looked like a crown, and someone had etched an ornate reptilian creature with wings, claws, and fangs around it. It glimmered in the candlelight, seemingly alive, almost as if the tiny animal would fly off the accessory and out the corridor. The man in purple looked at her with such compassion and adoration that Anya couldn't understand why she felt leery of him.

Perhaps Xiao-Ping had been wrong.

"My darling girl," he began, "are you all right? Reptile tends to be too exuberant in the hunt. He mistook you for something else."

"I'm not some prey," she snapped as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Of course you aren't," he replied gently as he took her hands in his and caressed them. The dull ache in her swollen knuckles and cheeks subsided. As they gradually healed before her eyes, she felt something like warm water flow soothingly into her soul. This man, whoever he was, existed inside it and flooded every hole in her spirit. And it felt…_wonderful_. Anya gasped without meaning to when she tried to swallow her excitement.

"Who are you?" she whispered, mesmerized by this man who'd somehow magically plunged into her depths.

What seemed like a sad expression crossed his face. "Yes, we were worried you'd suffer memory loss as a result of your injuries."

"What?" she asked, bewildered. "What injuries?"

"Come with me," he said as he threaded his powerful arm beneath hers and pulled her close. "I'll tell you everything." He looked at the crowd of the arm sword guys and the lizard men and casually shooed them away. "Go about your business," he commanded. The one called Reptile crossed his arms and nodded to his people. He was clearly unhappy with the order, but they all obeyed. The others obeyed as well, and Anya's benefactor refused to resume his conversation with her until they were gone. And then he led her down the corridor, back to the room she initially found herself in.

"My name is Rain," he announced.

Immediately, Anya remembered Xiao-Ping's warning and she recoiled at the sound. She pulled away. A startled look crossed his face as she said, "I'm sorry, I don't know that I can be around you," she said. "Any of you. I was told you were not to be trusted."

"By who?" he asked, his face calm as he stopped and studied her. It was a normal reaction to such an accusation, she decided.

"This guy I just met. His name was Xiao-Ping. An old man."

Rain raised an eyebrow and smirked. "It sounds like _he's_ not the one to be trusted, my darling Anya. We have no servants or warriors in the palace by that name. I don't know who he is or where he comes from, but I think it's entirely possible you imagined him."

"I'm not making it up," she growled.

He threw up his hands in deference. "I believe that _you_ believe," he said. "But you took a very nasty shot to the head. Terrible things can happen to the brain when the skull is injured like yours was. You and I have known each other since we were children. We're _betrothed_ to be married. Of course you can trust me!"

"We're…we're betrothed?" Anya repeated. That didn't sound right. But, if it was true what he said about her head injury, perhaps it was and her brain was merely malfunctioning.

"Indeed, my love," he smiled as he stepped closer and gripped her by her waist. He kissed her on the forehead, and once more butterflies floating on a warm current of air flew through her body.

"Rain, how…how did I get hurt?" she asked as she impulsively stepped closer to him, enjoying the way he wrapped his arms around her. She looked up at his face.

"A band of rebels led by a terrible man plotted an assassination attempt against the royal family," he explained.

"Royal family?" Anya repeated as he took her hand and started leading her down the hall again.

"Yes, my darling girl, you're one of the royal family. You're an Edenian princess because of your engagement to me. I am an Edenian prince, and more importantly I'm the son of Argus, the Elder God."

"I don't feel like a princess," she blurted out, and it was true. In spite of the beautiful clothes and the so-called Edenian prince insisting she was his fiancé, she felt like it was also wrong.

But Rain had an explanation for that too. He smiled as he pushed a thin lock of her brown hair behind her ear and then led her inside her room. "You _always_ say that, my love. It's because you were not technically born into nobility. But my heart refused to be ruled by class divisions and ancient traditions. I loved _you_ and _made_ you a princess because I could find no one more worthy of the title in all of Edenia."

"Oh," she mumbled. Anya wished she could remember that. It sounded terribly romantic to her, and deep down she suspected that such storybook loves were her guilty pleasure in life. "I apologize," she began as she sat on the edge of her bed. "I interrupted you. You were telling me about the rebels."

A dark, angry cloud crossed his face. "Yes, I was," he replied. "Their leader, a Cryomancer named Sub-Zero, attacked our armored entourage heading from this palace to the dock where are ships are docked. You were with me. During the battle, I was separated from you. Seeing how vulnerable you were, that monster took advantage of you and smashed you in the head with a club he made from ice. I managed to fight him off before he did worse." Rain now took Anya's hand, which now trembled in fear, in his own to comfort it. He kissed her knuckles. "I failed you, beloved," he said. "For that, I'm sorry."

Anya gulped down a terrified breath of air, and felt frightened of the rebel leader, Sub-Zero, but she also felt terrible for Rain, her betrothed, who was now wracked with guilt for what had happened to her. "It's not your fault," she said gently. "I'm sure you did everything you could to help me."

"I did," he said, nodding his head eagerly. "And I immediately put out a bounty on his head. 10,000 gold pieces for whoever brings him to me alive so that I might teach him a lesson in manners towards women."

"Rain, what's a Cryomancer?" she asked. The word sounded familiar to her, and she suspected it was because she'd heard it before.

The dark expression returned. "They're a race of people who can manipulate ice. They once held very privileged positions as King Jerrod's elite guardians. But greedy and evil, they betrayed him to Shao Kahn, who easily killed him and took his wife by force. They are the Hydromancers enemies as a result because we always remained loyal to our King, even in the face of death."

"What are Hydromancers?" she asked now.

"You and me," he said with a smile. "As far as I know, we're the last."

"But what are we?"

Rain wrapped a strong arm around her. "As the Cryomancers control ice, _we_ control water. But we can also heal, and we can read minds and feelings to a limited extent. But only through physical touch."

"I don't think I'm what you say I am," she said, but her voice was disappointed rather than defiant. "I don't think I can do any of the stuff you just said. When you touch me, when anyone's touched me since I've woken up, there's been nothing remotely like that."

"Hmmm...perhaps your injury made you forget how to use your abilities. I will work with you to retrain you."

A smile now spread over his cherubic cheeks. He got to his feet and pulled her with him. Then he led her to a full length mirror standing in a candlelit corner near the window. Rain gently pushed her forward and then wrapped his hands around her waist as he stood behind her. His hands, Anya realized, felt good on her hips. Part of her wanted him to touch her everywhere.

Rain chuckled at that. "I _heard_ that," he teased her.

Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment at being caught. "Sorry," she bashfully replied.

"Don't be," he said as he pulled her tighter. "I can oblige you if you want."

"Why are we in front of this mirror?" she asked, changing the subject quickly. Xiao-Ping's words still blared at her not to listen to anything he said.

Rain pointed to the mirror. "Look at your eyes, beloved," he said. "Only a true Hydromancer has eyes that color. It is like the color of the storm clouds looming over a village at night. And yours are especially beautiful to me."

Anya bent over to better see what he meant. They were as he said, like storm clouds electrified by purple light. "Wow," she muttered.

"Yes," he said as he pulled her by the waist, whirled her around to face him, and started guiding her towards her bed. "You are a stunning creature. You always have been. And I'm grateful that the Elder Gods have blessed me in this fashion."

Rain lowered Anya onto her back, and hypnotized by his charm and adoration, she let him climb on top of her to kiss her. The man in the purple uniform ran his hands over her smooth, skin-tight dress, and as she began to breathe heavily, he groaned lightly. Anya rested her hands on his as she slid them up his arms and to his shoulders. They locked together behind his neck and got buried in his longish hair, and she used her leverage to pull his face to hers. Instinctively, she found his lips and kissed them. Now _he_ breathed harder, sucking down air rapidly as he buried his fingers in her long tresses before running a hand down her back. Electricity jolted through her spine and legs. In excitement, she curled her toes and wrapped her arms around the back of his neck to hug him while she kissed him. He murmured his approval before a new man suddenly appeared in the room through a portal.

"Rain, I promised you could…_wed_ her when I was done with my work," the stark white bald man with red tattoos hissed as two other figures, a mechanical man of sorts and a solid black wraith with skin the color of death, flanked him.

"What does it matter, Quan Chi?" he arrogantly countered as he slid off Anya's body.

"The what is my own to know," the other cryptically replied as he crossed his arms behind his back. "Though it is extremely important that she remain unspoiled until the time is right, it does not otherwise concern you. Exercise some control over your baser animal instincts, young Prince." He looked at the mechanical man. "Smoke, you will guard _Princess_ Anya to ensure Rain doesn't do anything foolish before their _wedding_ night."

Anya was curious to know how this Quan Chi knew what they were up to, and why it was imperative to keep her "unspoiled," but she was even more intrigued by the mechanical man, Smoke. He was familiar to her as well. She looked at his black visor as he offered a hand to help her off the bed, and saw nothing beyond. But then, even though she touched a gauntlet, she suddenly remembered a bridge in a vast city. Smoke was there, fighting a man in black. She did not know the mechanical man's opponent, but she recognized him somehow. He was…beautiful. Not in his features so much – although they were more handsome to her than Rain's – but in his fierce determination and skill in combat. It was like admiring the tiger for being so fast, so accurate, so deadly. A peculiar longing to meet this stranger burned within her.

_What can I say, Kuai Liang_? a voice, _her_ voice, echoed over the mental image. _You're my Spongebob_. Though the sight of the bridge rapidly faded away, Anya now felt warm lips, not icy ones like she expected, beneath hers. The kiss took her breath away as much as it had his.

Now Quan Chi and the dark figure were leading Rain from her bedchamber, and it jarred her from her bizarre daydreams that somehow evoked guilt in her heart. All of this felt wrong, and she couldn't pinpoint why. Dammit all to hell! She couldn't remember what part of it was right and what part of it was wrong because she couldn't _remember_ period. She stifled her frustrated tears as she looked up at her betrothed.

Rain looked back at her with a licentious grin. "Don't worry, my darling girl," he called before he left the room. "The sorcerer can't stop me from having my way with you forever. I _will_ savor every inch of your body."

Anya said nothing, only faintly smiled to hide her true feelings of confusion and her thoughts of the mysterious person named Kuai Liang.


	22. A Jealous Eye

**Author's Note: Thanks to HavenRose for helping me brainstorm some great ideas for this chapter!  
**

* * *

Rain could scarcely contain his agitation towards the black and gray cyber-ninja standing in the corner of the main training room in Shao Kahn's palace, faithfully enforcing to the letter Quan Chi's order about guarding Anya. The Edenian prince glared daggers at Smoke, but quickly softened his expression when Anya looked up from her hands.

"It just seems like I should be better at this," she said, referring to her healing touch. "Maybe I shouldn't go with you all on your journey. I'd only be a nuisance."

Rain smiled at her. She meant Quan Chi and Shang Tsung's announcement earlier that morning. Shao Kahn's entire army, headed by the unified sorcerers, would be leaving the palace and heading to a ruined location hidden somewhere in the Burning Plains of Edenia. Shang Tsung had somehow come by a mystical map that only sorcerers could decipher, and it led to the fabled Dragon King's army. There, the prisoners from Earthrealm – Quan Chi was careful not to reveal to Anya that she was, in fact, a prisoner – would be used to awaken the fierce warriors. Rain didn't like the idea of his prized possession being used in a spell, but the sorcerer had promised she'd be returned unscathed, so he'd allowed the exchange. The woman didn't suspect a thing, and continued to believe she was an Edenian princess betrothed to the Hydromancer demi-god.

Without any memories of her life prior – _thank you, Quan Chi_ – Anya was timid, demure, and questioned nothing, just the way Rain wanted her. It had been simple implanting false memories in her head since lying came as easy to him as breathing. He didn't want her thinking about the past because that gave her power to defy him. A prisoner with a will of her own would try to escape and return to that barbaric Cryomancer who owned her heart, and now that she belonged to the demi-god, he wasn't letting her go. In fact, in spite of their cybernetic babysitter, Smoke, blocking his advances on her for the last week, Rain was determined more than ever to have his way with her. She was good for nothing else, and this charade of being in love with her was beginning to feel like unrewarded work. So even as the entire palace organized and prepared for the two sorcerers' mission, the Hydromancer half-god lured Anya to the training room with a plan to remedy his lust.

"My darling Anya," he said sweetly to her as he took his hands in hers, "you're being too hard on yourself. I have no doubt that in a moment of absolute necessity it'll all come back to you. And even if it doesn't, your presence boosts everyone's morale. Especially mine. So you have to go on this trip with us."

She flashed a shy smile at him, and his blood boiled. For a dumb animal, she was beautiful. Thank the gods for that because he found her incredibly stupid otherwise. "You boost my morale too," she said, her lavender eyes so innocent and naïve.

"Well, look who it is," a grating female voice rang out. "Hello, Anya." Both Rain and Anya turned to face the newcomer. A woman wearing form-fitting clothing beneath a blue Lin Kuei tunic leaned against the chamber's north door jamb with a sinister smirk and crossed arms. Frost. The Hydromancer narrowed his eyes at her; when Sareena and Noob Saibot brought her battered body before Quan Chi a little over a week ago, the sorcerer had commanded Rain to heal her. But he adamantly refused.

"I'm not going to lift a finger to help that…_filthy_ Cryomancer," he had told the immortal. "I don't want my spirit mingling at all with a Barbarian."

The Edenian prince hadn't lied when he told Anya that the Cryomancers were the Hydromancers' natural enemies, perpetually engaged in a feud that started long before Shao Kahn seized control of Outworld, the why lost to the pages of history. It was ironic, really, considering how the two Edenian races, as descendants of the water gods, were distantly related. The great goddess Eidothea, after all, was one of Himavat's most powerful daughters. Still, Rain refused to defile his soul by touching Frost's to heal her. So Shang Tsung had taken a slave's soul to infuse with the Cryomancer's body to keep her from dying. She was, according to Quan Chi, useful.

"Frost," he sneered as he grabbed Anya's arm and pulled her closer to her. He sensed a deep fear in his trophy that probably stemmed from her unconscious memory of the woman nearly killing her. Though Rain couldn't be sure without touching the Cryomancer, he suspected she still wanted to bring harm to his plaything, and he wasn't about to let that happen. He heartily intended for his "princess" to mother a new race of Hydromancer.

"Anya," she greeted as she entered the room, completely ignoring the prince. "You're looking well. I hardly recognized you without my big brother following you around like a little lost puppy."

Anya looked at Rain helplessly. She was terrified, like a prey animal being hunted by a predator. But she bravely looked Frost in the eyes. "I'm sorry, do I know you?" she asked uncertainly.

The Cryomancer chuckled. "Well, we played a little game of 'Duck, Duck, Goose' once," she began. "But you weren't very good at it."

While Anya didn't understand the allusion to her accident, Rain did, as well as the subtle threat in Frost's voice. "You will leave now, you vile filth," he hissed. "You are not worthy to be in my presence."

"You didn't ask very nice," she countered.

With that, an ice dagger suddenly formed in her hand and she lunged at Anya. She would've found her heart, too, if the pure-blooded Hydromancer hadn't stepped between them and took the blow in his upper arm near his shoulder. Anya yelped as it plunged into his flesh, but he looked at it with more hatred than pain. Frost's unclean hands had touched the dagger and thereby infected him with her filth. Angrily, he threw his other arm towards her and sprayed a jet of water from his palm. It left his hand like a projectile weapon that violently knocked her into the wooden pillar behind her. By now, Smoke had joined the fight, and he aimed an armored gauntlet with some sort of Earthrealm weapon embedded in his wrist at her stunned form just as a portal opened up and Quan Chi stepped through.

"Don't you all have better things to do than fight like children?" he asked them in a nearly bored tone of voice.

"Don't you have better things to do than spy on me, sorcerer?" Rain snapped as he vaguely wondered how the immortal always knew when to show up.

"I want her dead!" Frost screeched at Quan Chi as she staggered to her feet.

He looked at her dispassionately. "And people condemned to Netherrealm want water to drink, but they do not get it." He crossed his arms and stood ominously before her.

"Get her out of my sight before I kill her," Rain threatened the sorcerer, furious that someone with unclean blood dared to lay a finger on a prince of Edenia.

Quan Chi looked from Rain to Frost. "She best go and prepare for the long journey ahead," he said. "Otherwise, I might kill her myself."

"Mark my words-" the Cryomancer began.

"Mark _mine_," the sorcerer interrupted. "If you can't obey my orders, than I have no use for you whatsoever. I'd like you to think about what that means, _child_."

Frost sucked in an unhappy breath and then glared at Anya. "I'm going to enjoy tormenting you more than I already have," she sneered and then turned and walked out of the room. Anya clutched Rain's hands, and more fear pumped through her veins. He inwardly smiled. He could use that fear to his advantage.

Quan Chi glared at him. "Go prepare for the journey too, Rain," he commanded. "You're beginning to try my patience as well, and you know better than Frost does how unwise that is."

The prince bristled at the threat, but he withheld the sarcastic remark perched on the tip of his tongue. He nodded and bowed ungraciously as the sorcerer returned through the portal from which he came. As Rain then faced Anya, he yanked the ice dagger from his arm with a slightly pained grunt. Her eyes were wide with worry, and she covered her gaping mouth with her hands. He inwardly grinned again; he could use her compassion to his advantage as well.

"Are you alright?" she whimpered as she thrust a hand out and applied pressure to the wound with her palm. His blood oozed between her fingers.

"It hurts terribly, my love," he lied, resting his other hand on top of hers. "But you can help me. Heal me," he commanded.

She immediately recoiled. Her lack of confidence in her abilities was painfully apparent. "I can't," she protested. "I don't know how."

But Rain would hear none of it. "Yes, you do," he argued more fiercely. "Or would you rather I suffer? Or perhaps you'd like it if I lost the full use of my arm so that on our wedding night, I couldn't hold you properly? I was only injured because I couldn't stand the thought of that witch hurting you. But now you won't return the gesture? It is obvious that you don't care about me as I care about you." He was pleased by the wounded expression now in Anya's eyes. Though he'd lied to her – it was only a flesh wound that barely even hurt – she completely believed him. And she was completely at his mercy.

"No, that's not true. I do care about you," she stammered, tears springing to her eyes. "I'm sorry. What was I thinking? Of course I'll try. How do I do it?"

He rolled his eyes in very real annoyance. "By the Elder Gods!" he exclaimed. "We've been over this at least a hundred times this past week."

"I'm sorry," she apologized again, stepping back. "I-"

"I refuse to believe you're _that_ stupid," he snapped. "So that just tells me you're not paying attention to me when I speak. And an Edenian princess always listens when her prince speaks. So you've gravely disrespected me _and_ our people."

"Please, just tell me one more time," she cried as she looked to the floor. "I'm just having trouble remembering."

Rain could hardly contain his disgust for her at the moment. She was a beautiful creature, true, but utterly useless. What in all the realms did that filthy Cryomancer see in her? "This is the last time I'll tell you," he began. "You place your hand on my body, preferably over the wound itself. Then you will your spirit into it and command it to heal."

Still crying, Anya immediately clamped her hand over his stab wound and closed her eyes. "It's not working," she said in frustration a moment later.

"It's because you're crying like a child," he rebuked her. "Pull yourself together and _then_ try."

She took a long, shuddering breath that calmed her tears. It didn't seem like she would succeed because for the longest moment, nothing happened. But just when Rain had given up on her, a familiar warmth suddenly exploded through his body. It was like sinking into a hot bath after a long day of training. The sensation of water around him and through him surged through his spirit, and for a moment, it mingled with hers. Her essence felt distressed by his ire and she wanted more than anything to regain his favor, and now once again he lusted after her. He liked that she sought to please him. As his wound rapidly healed beneath her soft hand, he felt his nether regions go hard.

"You see?" he said a moment later, deliberately lightening his tone to an encouraging one. "I knew you could do it."

Anya took a step back and wiped her eyes. "Yes, I did," she replied, though she sounded slightly defeated in spite of her success. Rain knew she still smarted over the things he said. He had to act fast before he lost her confidence.

He lifted her chin with his finger so that she looked in his eyes. "My love, I'm sorry for my harsh words. You were having such trouble when I was being kind to you. I thought maybe you'd benefit more from tough love. Can you forgive me?"

She nodded, her grieved expression fading into a faint smile. "Who was that horrible woman?" she asked him, quickly changing the subject as she nodded at the door. "And what did she mean about her brother?"

Rain crossed his arms. He did _not_ want Anya thinking about Sub-Zero at all. He'd been speaking poison about him to her, but he hadn't been able to completely quell her curiosity. Something inside her refused to believe what the demi-god said against the Cryomancer. Determined to come across as a truthful man, he sighed and answered her.

"Her brother is Sub-Zero, the man who hurt you and took your memories," he explained.

Anya expectedly recoiled. "Well, then, why is she working for Quan Chi?"

Good question. Rain rested his hands on her shoulders. "She turned on her own people and joined our cause. But I don't like her. I will never like a Cryomancer."

"Well, I don't blame you," his prize said. "She's awful."

"Frost is…disturbed," he said. That was putting it mildly. He'd heard from Sareena the white-haired Cryomancer's various exploits apart from what he already knew from reading Anya's past. The humans in Earthrealm had a term for people like her: psychopath.

Anya swallowed hard. "What did she mean by this man…following me around like a puppy?"

Rain scowled, thinking of a quick lie. "He's been in love with you for quite a while," he began. "You've rebuffed his advances many times, too many to count in fact, but he never took the hint. He's terribly jealous of me, so he was decidedly put-out when he learned that you had agreed to marry me. So he decided that if he couldn't have you, no one could. And that's why, in that battle, he attacked you instead of someone else."

She wrinkled her nose in confusion. "But, I don't understand. I thought the Cryomancers and Hydromancers hate each other."

"Could you blame him for being in love with you, even though you're his enemy? You're stunning. But you made the right choice. You belong with your own people. You wisely decided not to taint our people's blood with their disgusting impurity."

"You really think I'm stunning?" she asked, the shy smile returning.

"Like a goddess," he replied as he leaned down and kissed her forehead. That much was true. In fact, she bore a striking resemblance to Eidothea herself. Anxious pain concentrated at his groin screamed for release as he ran his fingers through her silky tresses.

It was the opportune moment to dispatch of Smoke, who watched the whole exchange between the pair in silence. Rain was tired of the cyber-ninja's presence, so he calmly summoned a bolt of lightning to his hand. It was the one power that set him apart from all other Hydromancers; a gift from his father, Argus, it was a way to appease the god's guilt for disowning his illegitimate son. So now, Rain commanded the same power as Lord Raiden. And when the Edenian prince was satisfied with the amount of surging cold energy dancing invisibly around his hand, he flicked his wrist at Smoke and watched the thunderbolt knock him into the wall with a loud crackle.

Anya, wide-mouthed again, looked at Rain in astonishment. "What did you do that for?" she yelped.

"Because I'm a grown man, and I don't like being told when I can and can't enjoy my betrothed's company."

He didn't wait for her reply before he wrapped his arm around her waist and drove her into the nearby pillar, pressing his mouth on hers as he fumbled for the strings that cinched her dress tightly around her body. But then he quickly decided that he didn't want to take the time to undress her; his anxiety demanded release _now_, and additionally he wasn't sure how long Smoke would be offline, so instead he shoved his hands up her flowing white skirt and felt her soft skin with his fingers. He twirled them in tight circles, enjoying the heat and moisture from her body on his skin. Anya involuntarily sucked down a noisy, pleased breath and buried her head against his shoulder as he pressed his chest against her. She started to undo his cloth breeches, much to his delight, when suddenly she stopped and pushed him away. When she touched his chest in the process, he caught a fleeting glimpse of the Cryomancer, Sub-Zero, passionately pushing her against a wall, in her mind.

"I'm sorry, I can't do this," she apologized as he looked at her in confusion. He immediately detected the lie forming in her voice. "I don't want Quan Chi to punish you. You heard what he said."

"I don't care about Quan Chi," he snapped. "He can go to Netherrealm – _again_ – for all I care."

"I think you'd be in a lot of trouble if we did…this. And I don't want him to hurt you."

Rain looked away, his frantic panting and arousal subsiding. Anger now flooded him. No woman had ever turned him down. _Ever_. How dare this half-blood slave be the first? And how dare she turn him down because she was thinking of a romantic encounter with his enemy instead of focusing on him? The Edenian prince was going to have a word with Quan Chi about this irritating development; from what he understood, Anya shouldn't be able to remember anything from her life before. But that was a matter to be dealt with later. For now, he had to crush this rebellion in her.

Without a word, Rain backhanded her and watched with mild gratification as she fell into the ropes of the boxing ring. "I'm tired of your disrespect," he announced in all sincerity. Looking at him with stunned eyes, she started to cry. Her tears angered him further, so he slapped her. "I've tried to be patient with you, but I've reached the end of my rope." She cowered, but it still wasn't enough. He punched her in the side where he knew her fragile internal organs were, and let out a relieved growl as she howled and dropped to all fours.

"Why are you doing this?" she whimpered through choked sobs.

"To teach you a lesson in authority," he replied coldly. "You do _not_ deny an Edenian prince anything."

Rain started to slap her again, but this time a solid hand caught his wrist and stopped him. In surprise, he turned and faced his aggressor. Beside him stood Smoke. "That is enough," the cyber-ninja said. "You are not to harm her. Quan Chi has ordered her to remain safe and unspoiled."

"Stay out of it, Earthrealm scum," he hissed.

"I will not," the other replied, his odd-sounding mechanical voice devoid of apparent emotion.

The demi-god yanked himself free of the other's firm grip. "Take her to the dungeons to be with the prisoners," he barked fiercely. He glared at Anya again, who was struggling to stand with the help of the ropes. "Maybe a few days in bondage will make her appreciate _me_ a little more."

Rain shoved Smoke away from him and then stormed out of the training hall. He needed to take care of Sub-Zero, and fast. Somehow, she remembered him, or at least bits and pieces of pleasant moments with him, and the prince refused to compete with the filthy Cryomancer for Anya's affection. He'd kill the woman first. But he'd rather kill his enemy.


	23. Strange Day

Sub-Zero had a raging migraine, and it had lasted since the fight with Frost a little over a week ago. In that time, he hadn't slept much, only drifting off when his body refused to go another second. Even then, his sleep was troubled, plagued with nightmares. Over and over, in his dreams and in his waking thoughts, he replayed the video of Anya's accident in his head, and then watched helplessly as his sister tortured her. Try as he might, he couldn't get the image of her screaming in pain out of his head. And it gnawed at him knowing that she'd died thinking he hated her. Trying to figure out what to tell the Lin Kuei children about her death tormented him as well. For many of them, she had been the only mother they'd ever known, and they had all loved her dearly. He couldn't bear the thought of their faces when they heard the news. Or of Maggie's. But above all, Anya's unyielding absence, that unfair permanence of it, tortured him the most.

Kuai Liang just missed her.

He stared at the campfire, lost in thoughts of her, trying hard to push the pain aside just to have one moment of blessed peace. His brain stubbornly refused. And as a result, his heart _hurt _too. Worse than when Bi-han died. Worse than when the Lin Kuei turned Tomas into a cyber-ninja. Several times during the week, he'd seriously entertained the idea of forming an ice dagger with his powers and cutting out his own heart just so he didn't have to spend another second feeling this way. The only thing that stayed his hand was the thought of the children back in the Lin Kuei temple who depended on him for their survival. He owed it to them to be strong, and besides which, Anya would want him to take care of them, so he contained his suicidal urges to mere thoughts.

"How are you doing, KL?" Sonya asked him as she sat down beside him at the fire. Her voice was absent its usual abrasiveness. She was in pain too, he knew; her mother had been murdered by Frost, Noob, and Smoke.

He didn't look at her. "No worse than anyone else, I suspect," he replied solemnly as he picked up a dry branch and threw it on the fire. With a slight frown, she patted his shoulder consolingly. This past week, the Army Ranger had been the unlikely voice of reason and his staunchest sympathizer. Usually, she got on his nerves, but now he was grateful for her presence. Sonya had reminded him of what he needed to live for, and treated him with the grace and compassion of a sister, a _true_ sister. Kuai Liang didn't know what that witch, Frost, was, but she sure as hell wasn't his sister.

"I'm tired of this camping crap," Johnny complained a moment later as he flopped down on a piece of driftwood. For once, Sub-Zero was on the same page as the actor. He felt like he was spinning his heels in Outworld, accomplishing nothing while he could be at home, training the kids and keeping himself busy. Here, he was bored.

Raiden had insisted they track down Quan Chi's forces to stop them, and not surprisingly found them at Shao Kahn's palace, but the cunning sorcerer had erected elaborate magical barriers that protected the palace from attack. The thunder god was of the notion he'd done that because the two sorcerers were guarding something important, perhaps the prisoners they'd kidnapped, so it was imperative to rescue them. So the Earthrealm warriors had joined the Edenian resistance and made camp on a ridge overlooking the ominous black tower, and they'd spent the better part of the week trying to puzzle out a way to break into the palace. It wasn't going well. Everyone was on edge.

"You know what _I'm _tired of?" Kabal snapped at Johnny. "_I'm_ tired of listening to you bitch about everything. You sound like a fucking bubble-headed bleach blond California tramp. Why don't you do us all a favor and _shut your fucking mouth_?"

"Hey, pal, what's your problem?" Johnny shot back.

"My problem is that you're a typical celebrity, thinking that you're the fucking center of the universe and that you're the only one who's inconvenienced by this. Well, guess what? You're not. But you don't hear the rest of us bitching and moaning. Jesus Christ, Johnny, I've seen people who've been _gut _shot complain less than you."

Sub-Zero angrily threw another stick on the fire before he jumped to his feet and stormed off. The last thing he wanted to hear was yet another argument between Johnny and one of the other Earthrealm warriors. It was _always_ Johnny versus someone. Today, it seemed that Kabal had drawn the short straw. But the Cryomancer, exhausted, couldn't stand the sound of their voices yelling. He had to get away before _he_ got involved, and wound up killing them both just to get some peace and quiet.

"Where do you think you're going?" Raiden called after him as he marched past the farthest military tents and campfires. The thunder god quickly joined his side.

"What are you, my mother?" Kuai Liang snapped. "I don't answer to you."

"You are wrong, Sub-Zero. As a defender of Earthrealm, _my _realm, you _do _answer to me. And your safety in Outworld is my priority, so you will _not_ go where you please," he corrected him.

The Cryomancer stopped dead in his tracks and faced the deity. His face burned with rage. "Listen to me, you pathetic excuse for a god," he growled. "This entire week has been a frivolous waste of my time and energy, so if I feel like walking off that _goddamn cliff_ right here and now-" he pointed to the cliff overlooking the bloody sea "-there's nothing you or anyone else can do to stop me."

"If you think that you can talk to me so disrespectfully because one of the Elder Gods favors you-"

"Let Himavat come," he cut the god off. "I'll tell that bastard too. There's nothing I can't say to you that I can't say to him, and in case it's escaped your almighty notice, I'm not feeling terribly shy at the moment."

"Careful, Cryomancer," Raiden warned. "You're treading on thin ice."

"Just stay the hell away from me," he hissed as he stormed towards a rock staircase that descended to the gory seashore below. Sub-Zero took three or four steps at a time, hoping that no one followed him.

When he got to the bottom, he saw a form in a black hood sitting on a blanket on the bloody sand beneath an eerie green moon. He knew who the figure was immediately, as she'd taken to walking around the rebel's campsite shrouded like that, mourning the death of the Champion of Mortal Kombat, Liu Kang. It was Kitana. Sub-Zero started to sneak away, not wanting to disturb her or be disturbed himself, but she stopped him.

"Don't go," she ordered without even looking at him. _How did she even know he was there?_ No matter now, he supposed. He stopped.

"I didn't realize you were down here," he said almost apologetically. "I didn't mean to interrupt…whatever it was you were doing."

"It's too noisy up there with the others," she said somberly as she sat cross-legged on her blanket with her robes draped loosely around her. He'd never seen her body so concealed before. Like all the other Edenian women, she preferred to flaunt her physical beauty. But not today.

"Then I'll be going-"

"No, I do not mind you," she said. "You are always quiet. You do not feel the need to talk unless you have something important to say. I have always admired that about you."

"Um, thanks." He didn't have the heart to tell her that his silence usually stemmed from him not knowing what to say.

"Liu Kang admired that about you as well. He thought very highly of you."

"He was a good man."

"He convinced me of your worth."

Sub-Zero frowned, wondering where Kitana was going with this. "I don't need your approval," he bluntly replied as he remembered their first confrontation a year ago. She'd attacked him and Smoke, and made it clear she hated Cryomancers. It was as if she held him personally responsible for what a handful of his ancestors did to her people.

"Of course not, but you have it nonetheless," she said. "You are always so direct and honest. I find that…refreshing. Political intrigue and plays for power make for interesting stories, but in reality they are wearisome. Liu Kang said I could always trust you, and I trusted him, so I know he was right."

Now Kitana craned her head around and looked at him while he struggled to think of a response to her. Even beneath the shadows of her hood, Kuai Liang could still see the dark circles under her eyes. She patted the open space of blanket. "Come. Sit with me," she ordered.

"No, I'm fine," he curtly replied.

"We are both grieving," she said. "We should not be alone. We should find strength in each other's company."

He frowned and looked up at the cliff where everyone else milled around. There really _was _nowhere else for him to go for solitude, but at least Kitana didn't get on his nerves like the other fighters. She, too, never prattled on about stupid stuff. He sighed heavily and sat cross-legged beside her on the shabby blanket. There was little room on it, so the Cryomancer found himself shoulder to shoulder with the princess, and was startled when she rested a delicate hand on his bent knee. He looked at it stupidly. Then he gazed at the blood-blackened sea.

"Kitana, what happened to this place?" he asked. "Why is the ocean always bloody?"

She inhaled a deep and unhappy breath. "Shang Tsung," she replied. She looked at him, tears coating her brown eyes and making them sparkle like topaz chips in the moonlight. "A thousand ships carrying warriors loyal to my father sailed here to challenge Shao Kahn. But the Emperor sent his demon sorcerer and a Tarkatan horde to put them down. It was a massacre. Mutilated bodies were strewn as far as the eye could see, their souls imprisoned and enslaved for all eternity. Of course, that was many years ago when I was still only a child, but the wise men say that the ocean, in its sorrow, never lets the blood wash away." She looked at it. "Shang Tsung has brought nothing but death and grief to my life. Is that how you feel about Quan Chi?"

"Yes," Kuai Liang admitted as he thought about how the sorcerer engineered Bi-han's death and transformation into Noob Saibot, and how he currently employed Frost, the wretched woman who brutally murdered his beautiful Anya. When he thought about the unfairness of it, he had to wipe a tear from his own eye. "I think the worst part is not knowing why."

"True evil defies explanation," she replied somberly. "And Quan Chi is true evil. As is Shang Tsung."

"I'll kill him someday," he growled. "I'll kill them both."

Kitana looked at him with alarm. "You can't. That would be evil too, and you are much too good to stain your soul with their tainted blood." With a faint smile, she lifted her hand from his knee and cupped his cheek. "Their evil will catch up with them and exact vengeance for us. In the meantime, what we can do is surround ourselves by the people we love and find solace in their company."

Kuai Liang didn't have a chance to reply before her hand burrowed in his hair and pulled his face to hers. Hypnotized by her lulling voice and wise words, he obeyed and didn't resist as she pressed her soft lips to his, gently sucking and filling him with the pleasant tingling that always accompanied kisses. But as she kissed him harder, he suddenly saw in his mind's eye Anya laying on the pavement with a pool of blood encircling her head. Sudden guilt coursed through him as he pushed Kitana away and leapt to his feet.

"No, I can't," he yelped.

Realization flooded Kitana's eyes, and her cheeks flooded red with humiliation. "Oh, Kuai Liang, I'm so sorry." Now she got to her feet as well. "I felt so sad and alone, and then you were here…I'm a fool."

Now he felt guilty for rejecting her. He understood her actions. For a brief moment, he too had been able to forget the pain. "No, you're not," he protested as he exhaled heavily. "It's just…too soon."

She smiled wistfully. "Indeed. Please forgive me for my hasty actions."

"I'm going back," he said, ignoring her supplication. He didn't really want to forgive her. For one blessed moment, she had made him forget everything, and that was wrong. How could he forget Anya, his precious Anya, after only a week? Perhaps she really had been right to leave him. He clearly didn't care about her as much as he should've. Inwardly, he begged her forgiveness for his indiscretion before he left Kitana standing on the beach, consumed by her own sorrow.

At the top of the rock staircase, he glanced to his right and saw the somber rebels and Earthrealm warriors going about their business. An unsettling stillness hung over the camp. Kuai Liang decided he couldn't take another moment of it, knowing that he'd be unable to stop thinking about Anya because he'd just be sitting and doing nothing, so he opted to venture to his left towards the edge of the Forbidden Forest. He quickly blended with the deep shadows to avoid notice by his comrades, and then he made his way down the rocky landscape towards the man-eating trees.

It wasn't safe to go there alone, Raiden had warned when the rebels first pitched camp on this high ridge, but the Cryomancer didn't particularly care what the thunder god had to say. Where was he when everyone's families were being slaughtered like sheep? Where was he when Frost was hunting Anya down and torturing her? Maybe he was right about the danger. But Sub-Zero had lost all faith in the god's so-called concern for their well-being. Raiden's words were just that: words.

After a rigorous fifteen minute jaunt full of bitter thoughts, Kuai Liang crossed the wooded threshold, careful to avoid the trees, and flopped down in the middle of a tiny clearing to meditate. Perhaps he could find his center of calm again if he was free from distraction. And maybe then he could find some semblance of peace. It was weird really; he couldn't stand the quiet but he couldn't stand the noise either. He just couldn't stand _living_.

The Cryomancer wasn't sure how long he'd been lost in thought before he suddenly felt the hair on his neck stand on end. He quickly scrambled to his feet, knowing that something frightening was coming for him. As he started to react towards the irrational terror welling inside of him, a column of flames exploded before him a moment before a sharp weapon raced through the air and plunged through his thick blue tunic. With a violent jerk, it yanked him forward.

"Get over here!" a demonic voice roared as Sub-Zero flailed helplessly along on the rope like a fish on a hook. Quickly, a kori sword formed in his hands and he chopped through the cord. His body rolled to a stop at the feet of his attacker.

Above him was a very familiar figure clad in the black and yellow ninja garb of the Shirai Ryu. Though his face was human behind his golden mask, his eyes were not. Clouded by milky white cataracts, they were full of fiery, lingering rage. Evidently, the ninja had forgotten how just over a year ago, he'd saved the Cryomancer from ritual sacrifice before they both briefly worked together in order to destroy Quan Chi's soulnado.

"Scorpion," he growled as he did a kip-up and poised to fight the undead warrior.

Without a word, the demon threw another kunai blade at Sub-Zero, but this time the Cryomancer dove to the side and sprayed a cloud of ice crystals at his attacker. Small like glittering diamond chips, the shards of ice were razor sharp and abundant. Yet Scorpion calmly threw up his arms in response, and as he did a wall of fire burst from the ground and shielded him. The ice melted instantly, evaporating into steam and wafting through the air on a thick cloud of smoke. In a split second, the fire wall jumped to the trees and began to spread through the forest. The trees wailed in fear and pain.

But the fork-tongued flames did not deter Sub-Zero. With a ferocious roar, he leapt through the inferno with his leg aimed straight for his opponent, and he planted his foot in the other's chest. The blow knocked Scorpion backwards into a graceful roll, and when he came up, he came up with his katanas drawn. Expertly, he swung his left sword around and neatly cut a line into Sub-Zero's bicep. Then he swung his other katana at him. This time, the Cryomancer blocked it with his kori sword, but it couldn't withstand the force of Scorpion's ferocity. The ice shattered into thousands of pieces. Stunned, Sub-Zero looked at the hilt and jagged blade he still held in his hand, and then calmly swiped the broken weapon across his enemy's cheek. A small trickle of lava wept from the wound and seared the demon's skin black where it touched.

But it didn't seem to bother Scorpion, who jumped into a backwards spin kick that caught the Cryomancer in the face. An explosion of white hot stars rained through his eyes as he collapsed to the ground in a heap, but he didn't waste time before he did yet another kip-up. As his vision cleared, he stepped into a roundhouse kick to the ribs that forced the demon to stumble backwards a bit. While his enemy was off balance, Sub-Zero back-fisted him across his mask, cracking the lacquered bones it was made of. Wasting no time, he then threw a reverse punch to the other's exposed eye orbit.

But before he landed his punch, Scorpion grabbed his wrist and wrenched it around. With lightning fast reflexes, he coiled his arm around Sub-Zero's, locking his opponent's elbow at a weird angle before he clasped his fingers around his neck, jerked him down, and kneed him in the face. Then he threw him to the ground with a determined grunt.

The demon now charged towards his body on the ground, but the Cryomancer was ready for him. He drew his legs to his chest, and when Scorpion was in range, he kicked him like a mule in the shins. His attacker immediately cried out in pain as he stumbled backwards, giving Sub-Zero time to jump to his feet and side-kick the warrior in the kidney. The demon botched his plans, however, when he unexpectedly dashed through a portal made of flames, reemerged on the other side of him, and slid into a scissor sweep. Before he even knew what had happened, the Cryomancer found himself on his back with the wind knocked out of him.

He coughed and sucked down air, clawing at his chest as he tried to breathe again. The undead warrior used the opportunity to lunge at him with his scorpion-tail katanas as if to stab him through the chest. Sub-Zero immediately rolled out of the way. As the sharp blades bounced off dirt, he swept the demon off his feet and then drove his elbow to his face.

As the Cryomancer leapt to his feet, he threw an ice ball at his enemy. Scorpion promptly dodged it, and neither warrior cared when it hit a burning tree and froze it, almost certainly putting the howling plant out of its misery. While the demon avoided the attack, Sub-Zero fell backwards through his icy portal, emerging on the other side of him to sucker punch him. But Scorpion was not fooled. He caught the Cryomancer by the tunic with his katanas and effortlessly flung him to the hot edge of the forest fire.

Now Scorpion meant to add even more heat. He threw his arms up again as he roared, and this time a patch of fire exploded from the ground beneath Sub-Zero's tabi boots. Startled, he sprayed the fire with an ice shower as he leapt aside. The flames froze as they curled towards the sky, but suddenly exploded into thousands of shards that rained down on both warriors in cold droplets of water vapor.

With a frustrated grunt, Scorpion rushed Sub-Zero and threw a punch that the other easily deflected. Now he threw a reverse punch followed by a front snap kick. This time, the Cryomancer caught his foot and shoved him back before he gracefully stepped into a backward spin kick that sent the other flying. Relentlessly, he followed and threw his own reverse punch that the wraith blocked. Then Scorpion grabbed Sub-Zero's arm and twisted it behind him until he had him caught in a bear hug. With a furious shout of his own, the ice warrior ran backwards with his enemy on his shoulder, and drove him into the first hard thing he could: a tree.

Scorpion immediately released his grip on the Cryomancer, and frantically began to chop at the tree with his katanas as its mouth began to devour him. Sub-Zero would've let it too, but it would've been a vile waste. The undead man was nothing if not honorable in combat. Therefore, he deserved a better fate than to be a tree's lunch. Compassionately, he formed an ice dagger in his hand and went to help.

The demon undoubtedly expected to die at his enemy's hands, so when Sub-Zero calmly cut him free, he stared at him blankly with his milky white eyes. The Cryomancer thought a mutual understanding had passed between them, so when the wraith unexpectedly sucker-punched him in the jaw, he was totally caught off guard. As he fell to the ground, pain surged through his face. But Scorpion wasn't done. Sub-Zero started to kip-up, but the demon stopped him when he stomped on his opponent's chest and pressed him down into the ground. The Cryomancer's old rib injuries angrily protested the action while his enemy twirled his katanas gracefully over his head and around his body. Sub-Zero prepared for death.

But to his surprise, Scorpion didn't move towards him for the longest moment. When he finally acted, he plunged his weapons straight down. The Cryomancer's heart, which expected to be destroyed forever, leapt into his throat when the demon drove the katanas into the dirt on either side of his head instead of through his chest like he thought. Then, the undead man bowed, holding his hand to his heart in the Lin Kuei sign of respect. The Cryomancer tried to keep his face a calm mask, but inwardly, astonishment and confusion surged through him.

"What the…" he couldn't help but blurt out.

"You have passed the test," the warrior said in flawless English. "I have found you worthy." With that, he offered his gloved hand to Sub-Zero. The Cryomancer looked at it suspiciously for a long moment before he finally took it. His aggressor promptly lifted him to his feet. "There is too much smoke here," he began. "Walk with me."

Kuai Liang looked around and saw he was right, so he nodded his assent and followed him from the clearing. "Would you mind explaining to me what this is all about? What test? Why did you attack me?"

"You are definitely not your brother."

"Is it that obvious?" he replied sarcastically, though he instantly regretted it. Scorpion seemed to be paying him an offhanded compliment.

But if the demon noticed his rudeness, he ignored it. "Your brother would not have had mercy on an enemy who ambushed him. You have compassion whereas he did not."

"_Still_ does not."

"Indeed." Scorpion paused before he resumed. "I attacked you because I wanted to see what kind of a warrior you were. If you were like your brother. If you could be trusted. You fought with your heart, and impressively so. It is nothing less than what I would expect from a Lin Kuei Grandmaster. I had already decided to help you because of that. But because you showed your enemy compassion, you have also earned my respect."

"Thank you. I think." Kuai Liang thought about it. "How are you going to help me?"

"I have come to make amends," Scorpion replied. "I was wrong to kill your brother. Quan Chi made fools of us both."

"He _does_ have that way about him," Kuai Liang replied sarcastically. He was certain it was an inappropriate response, but he was still so stunned by Scorpion's actions that he couldn't help it.

The wraith met Sub-Zero's puzzled gaze. "I have been watching him since he befriended Shang Tsung and assassinated the Emperor. I have been watching you as well."

The declaration chilled the Cryomancer's blood. It was so matter-of-fact, and what was worse was how he'd never even suspected someone was spying on him. But in spite of the tumultuous feelings inside of him at the moment, he maintained his cool façade.

"Quan Chi has stolen much from you, as he has stolen much from me. I believe you loved your woman as much as I loved the wife he butchered."

Kuai Liang wasn't much for sharing his feelings with his rivals, so he said nothing. Yet, he suddenly felt close to his enemy, having shared a terrible tragedy at the hands of the same wicked man. While Quan Chi had ordered Frost to do his bidding and kill Anya, he had personally cut down the Shirai Ryu's wife and son. What was worse was the way he was proud of it. It was a grave sin that the sorcerer had confessed to enjoying. He probably enjoyed Anya's murder as well. So in a horrible way, the two enemies had a common ground few others could relate to.

Scorpion continued: "Quan Chi must be stopped."

"Don't worry about that. I'm going to kill him."

"No," the wraith said firmly. "_I _will deal with him."

"And why should _you_ get to-"

"Because I am already damned," he abruptly cut him off. "Your fate, however, has not been decided yet."

"Then what am I supposed to do?" he asked in near desperation. "I can't just sit on my hands and wait for you to make good on your word. He _must _be punished for what he's done."

"He is immortal," Scorpion began, "and therefore you will find it difficult to succeed in killing him. But there are other ways to make him suffer. Thwart his plans."

"I don't even know his plans. Not completely anyway."

"You don't. But _I_ do." The demon crossed his arms. "He intends to raise the Dragon King's army. You already know this. But what you did not know is that in order to raise the army, Quan Chi has to ritually sacrifice four people in the required spell. These cannot be just any people. They have very specific functions. The Dragon King himself designed it that way so it would be difficult for anyone to succeed."

"Are you referring to the people he kidnapped from Earthrealm?"

"Yes. The first requirement of the spell demands that they be from a realm separate from Outworld."

"But they only took three of our people," Kuai Liang argued.

"I assure you, they took four. The fourth is…special."

"Why?"

"Find the prisoners, and you will see what I mean."

The Cryomancer bristled in annoyance. He was not pleased with Scorpion's vagueness as well as the impossibility of the mission. "How do you expect me to find them? Quan Chi's got the whole place protected with magic charms and shields."

Scorpion yanked his katanas from the ground and re-sheathed them. "Follow me, Grandmaster," he ordered as he walked towards the palace. He established a quick pace, even by a ninja's standards, but Kuai Liang kept up with him anyway. Soon, they crept up to an embankment perhaps only fifty feet from the outer wall of the palace. There, they spied on a large entourage of Tarkatan and Zaterran soldiers marching from the gates towards the distant mountains to the east.

"What are they doing?" Sub-Zero asked the ninja quietly.

"Shang Tsung has come into possession of a map only sorcerers can read," Scorpion explained. "The map will lead him to a place in Outworld, and only by going there and unlocking the next clue will he know where to go next. He will have to do this several times in order to find the location of the Dragon King's army. So to ensure their plans are not disrupted by the rebels you travel with, he and Quan Chi have ordered the bulk of Shao Kahn's army to accompany them on their journey. They cannot risk anything happening to those prisoners."

Now Scorpion pointed to a heavily armed guard escorting four people in heavy chains and leg irons: there were two women in green cloaks, one of whom Kuai Liang recognized as Jade, a little boy in a blue cloak, and a figure completely obscured by a royal purple cloak with its hood up. Though he couldn't see the fourth's face, nor could he tell if the person was male or female, he felt a certain familiarity as he watched the person walk as fast as possible with the chains and irons weighing him or her down.

"That is the fourth prisoner," Scorpion announced. "But you need to rescue them all."

"What about his spells to keep intruders out?"

"Why do you think they have to travel with an army to protect them?"

"You mean to tell me that there are no more protective spells?"

"Not like those around the castle. Anything would be minimal protection at best."

"And I'm just curious…while I'm rescuing everyone, what exactly is it that _you're_ going to do?" Kuai Liang retorted as he stared at the captives.

"Make Quan Chi suffer," he replied simply.

"Draw it out as long as you can," he said coldly after a long, still moment. He then looked directly into the demon's white eyes. "You make him scream for mercy that will never come. Make him beg, Scorpion. Please. For what he did to _both_ our wives."

"Do not worry about what I'm going to do to him," the undead warrior answered as he waved his arm behind them and formed a flaming portal. "Rescue the prisoners. I'll be around." And with that, he walked through the vortex and disappeared.

For the first time all week, Kuai Liang had a new purpose. He would sabotage Quan Chi's plans. And he was determined to succeed. He wanted to rescue the prisoners to return them to his friends, but a part of him also wanted to rescue them just to annoy the sorcerer. But he would need help. It would be a suicide mission otherwise. He wanted someone fast and who played by a looser set of rules than most, just in the event they ran into trouble, and if the past was any indication they would. Therefore, as the large entourage of warriors, servants, prisoners, and sorcerers marched towards the distant mountains, Kuai Liang had bolted in the opposite direction with his choice in mind: Kabal.

* * *

**Author's Note: I know I usually put these at the beginning of the chapter, but today I didn't want to ruin the surprises I put into this for you. So now, I'd first like to thank Grandmaster SubZero for suggesting the scene with Kitana. **

**And as for the scene with Scorpion? Well, thanks so much to Firebending Master for helping me "choreograph" that fight. I have to thank HavenRose for a few of those ideas as well such as the fire exploding after Sub-Zero froze it, but most of the credit must go to FM. He and I both knew that because it was a fight between Sub-Zero and Scorpion, it had to be pretty 'effin epic. That's why that scene is longer than most of the fights I've written to date. Firebending Master feels the same way about Scorpion's character as I do about Sub-Zero's, so I have to tease him a bit for trying to make everyone's favorite Shirai Ryu ninja vastly overpower everyone's favorite Cryomancer. I had to reign him in a bit, but after some serious collaboration and brainstorming, I think we pulled it off, and I hope you all agree!  
**


	24. Little Acts of Insurrection

The rebel camp was livelier than it had been all week. A sense of urgency hung heavily in the air as the warriors scrambled to and fro, arming themselves and gossiping about a strange fire burning nearby, undoubtedly set by Shang Tsung's minions to flush out their forces. They did not know, as Kuai Liang did, that the responsible arson, Scorpion, was long gone. He ignored their frantic discussions and avoided being seen by them as he darted through the narrow passages created by the tents. Soon, he spotted his target.

Kabal walked briskly past the shadow-shrouded warrior, oblivious to the Grandmaster's watchful stare. The cop was clearly heading somewhere quickly. Kuai Liang did not know or care what the masked man's present objective was. What mattered was that four prisoners demanded to be rescued, and he had just recruited him to help stage a rescue. With catlike speed and precision, Sub-Zero's hand shot out and yanked Kabal backwards by the scruff of his burnt neck.

The masked man blindly swung a startled fist at him, but he easily blocked it and whirled his captive around to face him. When the cop saw who had dragged him out of sight, he angrily shoved the other backwards in retaliation. "What the hell, Frosty?" he snapped. "I almost took your head off with a hook sword."

Kuai Liang crossed his arms and stared at him dispassionately. "Uh-huh," he replied flatly. "Sure you did."

"Look, I know you're lonely right now and want to cuddle and all, but now's not a good time for me," the other stated as the Cryomancer scowled. "There's a fire burning. The Edenian rebels think Quan Chi set it. They want us to go investigate."

"Well, he didn't," Kuai Liang said. "So forget it. It's nothing."

"Yeah, no one from Earthrealm thought Quan Chi set it," he continued as if he hadn't heard him. "We were taking bets that you set yourself on fire down there. Of course, I was the only one who thought you'd commit suicide by hara-kiri before self-immolation. But that's just me."

"You're all idiots," Kuai Liang hissed, angry at the jokes Kabal, and evidently everyone else, had made about his grief. He hadn't done that to them as they grieved for _their_ loved ones. He suddenly hated them all. But he still needed the man's help. "Even so, you're gonna help me rescue your sister and the other prisoners."

"I am?"

"Yeah."

"How?"

"You'll see."

Kabal cocked his head to the side. "Why are you taking it upon yourself to do that by yourself?" he asked. "Shouldn't we get the others' help?"

"No," Kuai Liang answered coldly. "They'll just get in the way. The simpler, the better. But I'm just tired of sitting on my hands doing nothing. So follow me."

He whirled around and led the man back through the shadows cast by campfires. As easily as he slipped into camp, he and Kabal slipped out. The Cryomancer quickly found a passage through the rocky terrain that would keep them safely concealed from both their friends and their foes. Perhaps he should've told the others about Quan Chi's movements, but he knew the rebel scouts would do that for him soon enough. And perhaps he should've gotten Raiden's blessing to go on this mission, but for one, he didn't really care what the god thought, and for two, what he'd told Kabal had been true: keep it simple. The more Earthrealm warriors involved, the harder it would be to pull off the rescue.

When they were safely away, the masked man asked, "You gonna let me in on the secret or what?"

"We're gonna rescue your sister. What more do you need to know right now?" he replied. Sub-Zero stealthily moved through the narrow rock canyon towards the mountains beyond Shao Kahn's palace even though it was devoid of light; for him, it was like walking on flat, unobstructed terrain. Kabal, on the other hand, while supernaturally fast on a straightaway, was as slow as a turtle as he climbed over the sharp, treacherous rocks that refused passage to even the most determined traveler.

"What, are you part monkey?" he wheezed through his mask. "And as adorable as you are when you play shy, I want to know what spurred this on. Because if you don't tell me, I'm going back to the camp and telling Daddy on you."

The Lin Kuei assassin stopped in his tracks and glared at his partner. The last thing he wanted was Raiden to intervene. "Do you remember Scorpion?"

"Uh, the guy in yellow, the one with the 'roid rage issues?" the other panted hard.

"Quan Chi murdered his wife and son. It seems to me that you were pretty pissed off when you found out he killed your father and kidnapped your sister. Therefore, I'd think you'd have more compassion for Scorpion than that."

"Oh." He didn't have his usual smart-remark. Sub-Zero saw his head sink ever-so-slightly, indicating remembered grief and sudden guilt. "Well, that sucks, but what does that have to do with us?" the detective asked.

"He attacked me. Just now. In the woods. That's how the fire got started. He said he was testing me."

"What?"

"He wants to be my…ally, I guess." Kuai Liang didn't have a good word for it, but he knew 'ally' was a close approximation. He resumed his jaunt through the canyon. Time was of the essence.

"I thought he hated your family."

"I did too. But evidently, he subscribes to the notion that 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend.'"

"But you just said he attacked you."

"He said he was testing my worth. Wanted to see what I'd do. The bottom line is that I passed his little test, and now he wants to help us. So he told me what Quan Chi's up to."

"What makes you think you can trust him?" Kabal struggled to breathe. "He worked for the guy."

"Yeah, but would you want to help the person who butchered _your_ wife and son?" Kuai Liang pointed out. "I believe him."

"All right, fine," he grudgingly agreed. "I can buy that. But what makes you think you can break into the palace when the rebels who actually know this place haven't been able to-"

"We don't need to," he cut his partner off. "Quan Chi and Shang Tsung are on the move, and they took the prisoners with them." He stopped again to give Kabal a chance to catch up. The cop still crawled over the rocks a good pace behind him.

"How do you know?"

"Because I saw them, genius. I saw Jade and a woman who I can only imagine is your sister, and a boy who I'm sure is Nightwolf's son, and a fourth. But, I couldn't see that person's face. It was covered up with a hood."

Kabal reached him and looked up at where he crouched on a high boulder. "So you decided to share this information with me and me alone? Aw, you love me again! I'm so happy."

Kuai Liang inhaled deeply, trying to stifle his annoyance. "No, I still hate you," he growled.

Kabal put his hands on his hips. "Oh, you love me," he insisted. "You really love me."

The Cryomancer glared at him, though part of him secretly admired the cop's ability to find humor in somber situations. It reminded him of Tomas, and he knew that Kabal and Tomas would've been good friends. He suddenly realized that even though his childhood best friend had gotten on his nerves constantly, his orneriness was what made life bearable growing up, and now he had a new…friend…fulfilling that same role. He sighed and relaxed slightly, feeling a tad guilty for treating the man so harshly all this time.

"Come on," he grumbled. "Try to keep up. You're too slow. You've obviously been eating too many donuts since you became a policeman."

Kabal cocked his head at him. "Well, not all of us were born part spider," he drily remarked.

Kuai Liang said nothing, but inwardly smiled as they continued towards the mountains.

* * *

Smoke felt…something. He wasn't quite sure what, but it was strong. It was getting stronger. And it had been caused by the woman, Anya, when she took his hand eight days, five hours, and three minutes earlier. There had been a jolt of some strange energy, more like transference of power he decided, and in an instant all his internal alarms went silent. And that shift sparked that bizarre _something_ like defiance inside of him.

It had also induced some physical changes as well. Smoke's memory logs told him that when he was automated, the Black Dragon surgeons removed his eyelids because his digital retinas would shield his eyes from dryness and injury, so they were unnecessary. But since Anya had touched him, they had somehow grown back. Dark eyelashes even grew from the new skin. But just as impressive, if not more so, was how several patches of scar tissue on his neck, small spots where he'd been severely burned the year prior, had reverted to normalcy once more. Though his armor precluded the possibility of him feeling the smooth skin, his internal sensors insisted it was there. The armor itself felt looser, like it was trying to pop off, even though it was anchored into his body by wires.

And his memory – not his infernal memory logs, but his _real_ memory – was gradually coming back. It had been trying hard to punch through the Slaving Protocols on its own, but somehow, Anya had given it the added oomph to return. The thoughts were still foggy and unclear, but Smoke _remembered_. And he had her to thank.

Except now _she_ didn't remember. Quan Chi had wiped her memories from her brain in order to keep her subdued, and Rain had implanted new ones to convince her she belonged to him. It angered Smoke, what the two had done to her, though he couldn't quite be certain why he felt that way. And if that angered him, the sight of Rain beating her infuriated him. The cyber-ninja, deep down, knew that hitting a woman, but especially a helpless, wounded one, was a terrible sin. The only time it was remotely acceptable was when the man's life was in danger by said woman, and even then he should only use enough force to protect himself and avert the danger. It was a lesson his mother had ingrained in him before she died many years prior. But though the terrible bruises indicated equally horrid pain, the woman did not complain.

Anya was chained like the other prisoners and stationed at the end of the caravan where she struggled to keep up, but she trudged over the scorched desert sand quietly. Her left eye where Rain had hit her was swollen and the bruise perfectly matched her cloak. Clearly humiliated by the mark, she wore her hood up to hide it from the others. But they knew. Everyone knew.

Smoke walked beside Anya in silence, the two of them just a forgotten pair in a long cavalcade headed for the mountains. Though he had obeyed Rain's command to put her with the other prisoners, he refused to abandon her. He felt obligated to guard her; the cyber-ninja suspected that if he left her alone, Rain would either beat her some more or rape her on principal. The man was a sexual predator in more ways than one, and it wouldn't surprise Smoke at all if the demi-god had attacked women in the past just for that one moment of physical gratification.

The cyber-ninja stared at her in curiosity and thought of his old friend, Kuai Liang. Somehow Anya had set him free from the horrors of his past. It was something that Smoke, when he was still fully human that was, could never do. His program files charted every known fact about her, and yet he sensed that mountain of information was only scratching the surface of her true character. She had to be someone of great worth in order to mold the new Lin Kuei Grandmaster into a better version of himself. Smoke had observed during both battles with Sub-Zero that his old friend was much stronger than he used to be, and his strength had little to do with anything physical. The computer circuitry in his brain thought nothing of the way the Cryomancer came back and beat him when it seemed he should've lost both fights, but that familiar voice deep down suspected it had something to do with Anya.

Smoke wanted to save her.

But it was one thing to _think_ about defying his Slaving Protocols, and another matter entirely to do it. His will, though it screamed ferociously for control, was weaker than the circuitry in his brain, so his body refused to obey his mind's commands. For the time being, he was still a prisoner as well. So he stayed by Anya in the hopes that she could release him from his bondage like she had for his best friend.

As Smoke guarded the walking woman, an older man in the black and red livery of Shao Kahn's palace stepped alongside them as he held out a skin of water. The cyber-ninja thought him familiar, like someone he knew long ago, and the way those almond-shaped eyes sparkled with mirth reinforced his déjà vu. Even still, Smoke felt agitated by his presence.

"You are not allowed to be here," he said firmly as he walked towards the man with his palm outstretched.

The old man grinned and handed the water skin to Anya, ignoring Smoke for the time being. "Hello, little one," he greeted. "Do you remember me? Xiao-Ping?"

Xiao-Ping? In his mind's eye, Smoke saw an old Tibetan man who lived in Tingri with his family, who ran a tiny market. He had been a kind man towards the young Tomas, Kuai Liang, and Bi-han, always slipping them candy free of charge and letting them play in the back of his store with the toys that his children had outgrown when An Zhi was preoccupied with Lin Kuei affairs. But the cyber-ninja vaguely remembered how the old man had an alias and a secret power: his real name was Himavat and he seemed to be a Cryomancer like Kuai Liang. Smoke's mind wandered to a battle in an icy cavern, and he saw the man throw an axe made out of ice.

"I recognize you," he stated as the man passed by him in spite of his directive to leave.

Xiao-Ping – Himavat – chuckled and nodded in approval. "Good!" he exclaimed. "I knew you'd find your way back to the light, Tomas. Your will was always too strong to contain." Now he looked back to Anya. "How are you feeling, my sweet girl?"

She took the water and drank it greedily. "I'm feeling better now that I've had something to drink," she said a moment later. "But I have a pretty bad headache right now."

"Well, it's no wonder," he said. "You took a nasty blow to the head. Didn't I tell you not to trust Rain?"

"If you're here to say I told you so-"

"I'm here because I care about you," he said. "And for no other reason."

Smoke looked at Anya. She seemed taken aback by the statement, and understandably so. She may have known him, but she didn't _know_ she knew him. "What do you want?" she asked as tears sprang to her eyes.

Himavat's face softened as he grabbed her hand and patted it. "To help you. Don't give up, little one. Don't lose hope. Don't despair. You'll find yourself again, and perhaps sooner than you think." With that, he leaned over and whispered something in her ear.

Smoke, who had been complacent to this point because the man seemed harmless, now felt obliged to intervene. "You will leave us now," he commanded as he reached for the stranger's arm. But just as his cybernetic hand clamped on the old limb, the man had disappeared, leaving only the sound of the ocean wave breaking upon the shore in his wake. The cyber-ninja looked around, confused. And then he looked at Anya, who now bore a hard, determined expression on her face.

"What did he say to you, Annalise Anderson?" he demanded to know. His internal programming switched to an interrogation mode.

She blinked and then whipped her head around to look at him directly. "What did you call me?" she retorted.

It caught Smoke off guard. After Quan Chi erased her memory, everyone had been told to refer to her only as Anya, with no surname to speak of. It was imperative, according to Rain, to make her believe she truly was an Edenian princess. How had the cyber-ninja erred when it was so rigorously written into his programming? More importantly, _why_ had he erred? _Tell her the truth!_ a voice inside him screamed. But the Slaving Protocols silenced that voice, and Smoke refused to answer while he wondered about his mistake.

* * *

As the massive caravan descended upon ancient ruins in the middle of the desert they trekked through, Anya couldn't stop thinking about what Smoke had called her. _Annalise Anderson_…It felt vaguely familiar, and she was certain that it was her real name. But why hadn't Rain told her that? A surge of hatred and resentment for him boiled in her. It really should come as no shock that he'd lied. She suspected he'd lied about a lot. Xiao-Ping was right about him.

When she thought of the way he'd punched her, her bruises all burned with fury. How dare he touch her like that? Kuai Liang would _never_ have laid hands on her to hurt her. Wait a minute. Who was Kuai Liang? She closed her eye – just the right because the left was swollen shut – and tried to put a face to the name. Anya kept seeing a handsome man with a scar on his eye, the same one she'd seen when the white curtain that blurred her thoughts parted ever-so-slightly and let her peek behind it for milliseconds. She'd often seen glimpses of him, and when she did, she was left feeling bittersweet. There was sadness there, but also a painful longing she couldn't quite put her finger on.

For a moment when Rain shoved her against the wall in the training room, Anya did not see him, but instead was swept away to a large, dark room that looked out onto a white, snowy plain. She was against a wall there as well, but it was that mysterious Kuai Liang who held her to it, kissing her passionately while she responded in kind. He had threaded his bare, tattooed arm behind her, resting his hand in the small of her back, caressing her spine as he slowly dragged it downward. Anya shivered pleasantly at the feel of it and silently begged for him to do even more. She fell deeply into her hallucination without question, preferring the stranger's company to Rain's, but just as soon as her mind led her away, it returned her to a very angry demi-god.

_He knew_.

Anya had paid the price for her mental unfaithfulness to her so-called betrothed. When his fist plunged into her cheekbone, she somehow sensed his deceit through her skin. She couldn't quite tell what he had lied about, but she knew he hadn't been forthcoming with her. The woman _knew _– though she couldn't understand why – that somehow, he'd orchestrated a very elaborate lie to keep her in the dark about everything, and she hated him almost as much for his deception as she did for his abuse. And now, she thought of nothing but escape.

_You can create water from nothingness, just like Rain can,_ Xiao-Ping had whispered into her ear. _ But I cheated and accelerated the natural learning process because time is of the essence. The water you just drank was infused with a potion to kick-start things inside you. You'll start feeling the effects soon. Use your power over water to escape and get help for the other prisoners. Become one with the great sea of the Waters of Creation, little one. _

The man kept repeating that to her in her dreams and in her waking self. Since Anya had first heard him say it, she had wondered long and hard about what he was trying to convey to her. But after walking for several hours through the night-shrouded but scorching desert, her bare feet burning uncomfortably until they blistered on the sea of sand, in the complete absence of water, she began to understand. She began to feel it inside of her, a flowing energy that could not be contained or held back, just like the surging ocean tides. Anya dove deep into that sensation and found power.

So when Quan Chi's procession towards the distant mountains stopped for a brief respite in the ruins, and Smoke chained her to a skinny pillar with her hands behind her back, she focused on her burnt feet and healed them as she'd healed Rain earlier that day. This time, it came a little easier for her. Maybe it was because of Xiao-Ping's potion to make her Hydromancer abilities come easier. And while that was a likely possibility, she thought that it was more because her newfound loathing for the Edenian prince hurt worse than any mortal pain in her body, and she couldn't stand to be anywhere near him for another second. Even though he hadn't visited her at all since banishing her to the prison population, just the thought that he could at any moment made her skin crawl. And she had to get away.

Anya studied her surroundings. Her prison was an anteroom that led to a larger chamber where the higher-ranking soldiers took up residence. Rain was in there, as was Quan Chi and Reptile. Strange hieroglyphics of alien animals, deities, and plants decorated the crumbling stone walls around her, reminding her of Egyptian – whatever that was – temples. Chained to pillars beside her were the other three prisoners. She had yet to talk to them, but they all looked as disenfranchised with the situation as she felt. And while she had been grateful for Smoke for guarding her, right now she found herself annoyed that he stood by the door staring at her. Vaguely, Anya wondered what he found so fascinating about her.

She sighed and looked at the little boy chained to the pillar beside her. "What's your name?" she asked.

The boy had dark skin and longish black hair that was stained with desert sand and other grime. He looked at her. "They said my name is Sherman. But that's all I know. I can't remember anything else."

"None of us can remember anything but our names," the exotic-looking woman wearing the green cloak said. "I am called Jade. She is called Khadija." Jade nodded towards the woman farthest from her. Khadija looked at them timidly.

"My name is Anya," she introduced herself and then looked back to Sherman. "It'll be okay. Don't worry."

Sherman said nothing, so she looked over to Smoke. There was clearly a conspiracy afoot; though she didn't say so, Anya knew it couldn't be a coincidence that all four of them had no recollection of their true identities, and she wondered if this mechanical man was a part of it. He had to be. So even though he was her assigned protector, she couldn't trust him. She could, however, distract him.

"What's your name?" she asked as she closed her eyes and concentrated on that now ever-present feeling of water inside her.

"I am called Smoke," he replied in a passive, digital voice.

"I know that," she said as she instinctively directed the water to her fingertips and out through her nails. "But that can't possibly be your real name, can it?"

"My real name is irrelevant," he replied.

Anya sighed as the water collected in one hand and formed a sharp blade with a serrated edge. "Well," she started as she began to quietly saw through her chains, "I don't think I told you thank you for what you did earlier."

"To what are you referring?"

"When Rain was…well, you know," she said, genuinely embarrassed. It wasn't so much that the prince had hit her as it was that she didn't fight back. Something told her that the person she couldn't remember would've at least fought back.

If Smoke was moved by her words, he didn't show it. Instead, he said, "Quan Chi did not want you hurt. I was merely obeying orders."

The tiny saw was making steady progress. Anya had already cut through a fourth of the chain. "Even so, thank you," she told her guard. "I feel like I know you from somewhere. Are we friends, Smoke?"

"No."

"Did I know you before? I suppose that's a stupid question. Obviously I must've. You're always hanging around the palace." Now she approximated that she was halfway through the chain. However, a particularly loud swipe of the blade immediately got his attention.

"What was that noise?" he demanded to know.

"What noise?" Anya asked as innocently as possible while trying to conceal her work with her free hand.

"I didn't hear a noise," Sherman said, though the half-Hydromancer knew he was lying. His voice had taken on that same forced edge hers had.

Smoke said nothing as he marched towards her and studied her bonds. As he knelt behind her, Anya began to panic as her forehead broke out in a cold sweat. She was caught, and he would surely report her escape attempt to his superiors. That probably meant another beating by Rain. The thought made her heart thump unpleasantly in her chest. She didn't want him to lay a finger on her.

But to her surprise, Smoke stood up and walked back to the doorway. "I must report to Sektor," he said. "I will return in approximately ten minutes." And without another word, he left.

Startled, Anya didn't know what to do. He _had _to have seen her little saw blade and the notch cut into the metal, even with her trying to conceal it. Had he…_let_ her escape? It seemed unlikely. He might have been a man once, but now he merely was a machine programmed to obey his superiors. There was no trace of rebellion in him. How could there be?

"You heard him," Sherman said with rising excitement in his voice. "He's gonna be back soon. Now's your chance to escape."

His words broke through Anya's thoughts and she quickly found the cut in the chains and resumed her work. She sawed frantically, not worrying about being noisy now that her guard had left the room, so it wasn't long before she was free. Wordlessly, she scrambled to Sherman's pillar and started working to cut him loose as well.

"No, you must leave!" Jade whispered loudly. "There is no time."

"I don't want to leave you, though," she replied.

"I keep seeing a man named Raiden in my head," the other woman replied. "Find him. I think he can help you help us. We will be fine until you return with him."

Anya sighed. She knew the woman was right. She had absolutely no time to free them, and she couldn't hope to take all of the warriors on and win. She'd only be captured again, perhaps killed, and what good will her escape have served then?

"I'll be back," she said.

"May the Elder Gods watch over you," Jade replied.

"Good luck," Sherman said.

With that, Anya gathered up her skirts and her dragging cloak and went to the arched doorway Smoke vanished through only a couple minutes prior. She pulled her hood over her face so that it was completely shrouded in shadow. The long, dusty corridor was clear. She bolted down it and towards freedom.

* * *

Sub-Zero and Kabal peeked over a sandy embankment and surveyed the ruins where Quan Chi and Shang Tsung's forces had stopped on their march towards the mountains. The Cryomancer's eyes were fixed on the sentries – bald humanoid men with sharp fangs – taking up spots every fifty feet along the perimeter. And then sudden movement caught his eye. The figure he had seen earlier, the one in the purple cloak, scurried towards the invisible boundary line. The person seemed to see and recognize the guards stationed along the perimeter, and hesitated for a minute behind a small dune. Kuai Liang watched in almost amused curiosity as the hooded figure finally plucked up enough courage to go for it when the sentries turned the other way.

"Well, isn't that just mysterious as hell," Kabal whispered as he pointed towards the person making a break for the open desert.

"That looks like one of the prisoners I saw earlier. The fourth one," Kuai Liang replied as both watched the person shrink into a tall dune's shadows. "Want to go see?"

"What if that person is one of the bad guys?"

The Cryomancer grinned. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm itching for a good fight tonight."

"What, the one with Scorpion wasn't enough?" Kabal joked as he immediately went into hyper-drive and circled backwards beyond the sentries' view.

Sub-Zero chased after him with a kori sword in his hands, though in this unusual nighttime heat he didn't know how long the ice could last. It didn't take long for the masked man to catch his quarry, and he easily tackled the person to the ground while his partner ran to catch up. The Cryomancer watched as the hooded figure punched and kicked at Kabal, and then drove an outstretched palm into his face, somehow soaking him with water. In annoyance, the man grabbed his captive by the wrists and yanked the person to his or her feet, throwing back the hood as he did so. Even though her back was turned to Kuai Liang, he saw the long brown hair spill to her waist, and now at least he knew their prey was a woman.

"Oh, my God," he heard Kabal mumble when he looked at her face. Then the cop looked helplessly at his partner who was nearly there. She yelped and started to pull away, but even though she tried kicking him in the shin, he held fast.

"What?" Sub-Zero demanded to know as he approached, pointing his kori sword at the woman's back, ready to strike should she try anything funny. But in her struggles, she turned, and he stumbled from shock. Though her face was badly bruised, though she was uncharacteristically wearing a sheer white dress with large holes strategically cut from the fabric to expose most of her back, waist, and belly, and the cloth over her breasts and crotch barely thick enough to cover her, he recognized her immediately.

It was Anya.


	25. The Ruins

**Author's Note: Thanks to Firebending Master for helping me plan out one of the fight sequences in this chapter. **

**Now I have to share a bit of good news I'm very proud to share. This Friday, I'm testing for my yellow belt in San Soo. I worked very hard to level up, LOL, and as a result, this test is about two months earlier than I thought it'd be. Up top! Girl power!  
**

* * *

Anya stopped struggling against Kabal for a moment when she saw Kuai Liang, and the two stood there just staring at each other for eternity. Her bewildered eyes stayed fixed on his, and with mild embarrassment, he blinked back happy tears. Frost had lied to him. And for once, he was glad she had. Anya was alive in spite of what his sister told him. It was like he'd suddenly gotten his life back. No, it was like he'd suddenly gotten his _soul _back. Kuai Liang dropped his kori sword on the ground before his arm shot out, wrapped it around her body, and tightly pressed her to him.

Now the tears of relief spilled out uncontrollably, but he didn't care, and instead ran his hands all over her to check if she was real and not some hallucination to torture him. His fingers burrowed into her soft hair, then down her arms to her fingers, then back up again to her cheeks. Happily, he started kissing her face all over, starting at her lips and moving counterclockwise towards her forehead before coming full circle. Then he kissed her more passionately when he reached her mouth, now suckling almost frantically on her lips, tasting his own salty tears as they slipped from his cheeks onto his tongue. In his arms, Anya relaxed at first as he held her tightly, but inexplicably tensed again and then pushed him away. Sub-Zero's relief immediately turned to anger.

"You're not gonna let it go, are you?" he snapped as she backed away, her eyes wide. "You're gonna keep acting like an immature brat. In spite of everything we've gone through the last few days, you just can't help but keep the fight going, can you?"

She cocked her head in confusion. "I don't-"

He held up his hand to silence her. "You drive me insane," he announced. "You should be ashamed of yourself for acting like a child."

Now Kabal stepped in. "Hey, Yukon Cornelius, look at her," he pointed out quietly. "She's not fighting with you." The masked man looked at her directly. Kuai Liang now noticed how she trembled with fear, her eyes full of confusion and uncertainty. "You don't remember us, do you?" Kabal asked her.

She shook her head nervously. "No," she answered. "I'm sorry," she said, her voice wavering. "I just don't remember anyone or anything. It's all gone. Everything. But I kind of remember you, I _think_. Little glimpses." She looked back at the Cryomancer, who now felt like a heel for yelling at her.

Kuai Liang sighed loudly and rubbed his eyes, not even hiding his displeasure at the news. He knew it wasn't her fault – she had sustained a terrible head injury in her crash – but he still couldn't help but feel frustrated towards her for her amnesia. As irrational as he knew it was, he wondered if the reason she couldn't recall him more was because she didn't even want to. But he supposed little glimpses were better than nothing. "Well, at least you remember something," he grudgingly acknowledged.

"Hey, Anya, what else doyou remember?" Kabal asked.

"Nothing. Who are you?" she wanted to know. "You both clearly know me. So are we friends?"

Sub-Zero laughed lightly at that. "In a manner of speaking," he replied as he rubbed her shoulder.

She wrinkled her nose in annoyance. "What's _that _supposed to mean?"

"It means that you're together," Kabal said. "Though I still think you could do better. His name's Kuai Liang. Mine's Kabal. And you have no idea how happy I am that rumors of your demise were exaggerated."

"Me too," the Cryomancer added.

"What rumors? I wasn't dead. At least, I don't think I was dead. Rain healed me."

Kabal frowned. "Uh, if this Rain person healed you, why do you still have bruises on your face and body?" Both he and the Cryomancer looked at her expectantly.

"If it's all the same to you, I'd rather not talk about it," she said quietly as she pulled her hood onto her head once more and then crossed her arms protectively to her chest. She glanced at Kuai Liang. "And I'm not with you, I'm with _him_."

"What did you say?" he demanded to know, his fury instantly at the surface. "Who the hell is Rain?"

He took a step away from both Anya and Kabal before he inadvertently froze either one of them. His clenched fists already exuded fog produced by the sudden and involuntary Arctic chill in his skin meeting the unnatural heat of this nighttime desert. The Cryomancer breathed deeply in and out of his nose, but it was an exercise in futility. His anger would not be tamed. Whoever this Rain was, Kuai Liang was going to kill him.

In bewilderment, Anya looked from him to Kabal and back to him repeatedly. "I-I'm sorry," she stammered, taking a step back herself. "I'm sure you're very nice and all-"

"Not really," Kabal interrupted. "He's kind of an asshole."

She acted as if she hadn't heard him when she continued, "I'm sure you're very nice, but he was the one who was there when I first woke up. I mean, why wouldn't you be there and he would if what you say is true? And look at this stupid dress," she said as she fanned out her skirts. "This even _looks_ like something that someone betrothed to an Edenian prince would wear."

"Oh, shit," the masked man muttered as he slowly withdrew his hook swords. He looked at the Cryomancer uneasily. "Okay, you need to cool down, Frosty. The vein on your forehead is about to explode."

"That better not mean what I think it means," he growled at her, so angry that purple spots danced in his vision now, melding with red. Small ice balls were already forming in his palms.

"Well, it does," she replied a little uncertainly, though her typical defiance was unmistakable. "I'm supposed to marry him."

"Fine," he said coldly. "If that's the way you want it."

Kuai Liang wished someone could explain to him how just over a week ago, they were living together in the Lin Kuei temple, and how he'd adored her so much he was going to marry her. But then life happened – well, life for any one of Raiden's chosen that was – and now not only did she not remember him, she was already engaged to another man. _Could someone please explain how this happened?_ he shouted at himself or to anyone listening. There was no viable answer, but rather than argue with her, he turned to leave. He was going home to Earthrealm.

"Dude, where are you going?" Kabal called after him, but he didn't respond. He was so angry he couldn't speak. He had loved Anya – _loved _her – and he'd been an idiot for doing so. This was _exactly_ why the old Lin Kuei Order banned the emotion from its halls.

As he stormed off, he felt his fingernails dig crescent shaped wedges into his icy palms. The tips of his fingers turned blue with frostbite as they plunged through the cryogenic energy in his hands, but he ignored the sudden numbness. He heard a light set of footfalls chase after him, and he knew it was her. But he refused to stop. He couldn't. He knew that if he did, his head was going to explode from the rage. So it startled him slightly when her delicate hand immediately grabbed his bicep from behind and yanked him violently to face her.

A jolt of energy surged through his exposed skin as Anya clinched his muscle tightly, her face furrowed in concentration. Her eyes glossed over as they stared into the distance, fixed on a point far away before her eyelids slowly closed. Her head cocked to the side and then she suddenly smirked.

"What are you doing?" Kuai Liang demanded to know.

"Shh!" she hushed him. He bristled in annoyance, and tried to yank his arm away, but she held firm.

"Let go," he snapped.

Finally, Anya released him as she opened her eyes. That son of a bitch," she muttered.

"Are you gonna tell me what the hell you're talking about, or are you gonna make me guess?" he hissed.

"You're not lying to me," she said as if it was some great revelation.

"Yeah, no kidding."

By then, Kabal had trotted to them. He had foregone his supernatural speed in lieu of a slower jog, undoubtedly to give him a moment. Suddenly, an alarm blared and they all heard distant shouting coming from the nearby ruins. Anya looked in that direction with panic. "They're coming for me. I've got to go!"

Without warning, she bolted the other direction, running up the next dune at her top speed. At first, Kuai Liang was going to let her fend for herself. Let Rain save her if he meant so damn much to her. But a nagging feeling tore at his heart. He couldn't leave her. Not now. Not after he finally got her back from the dead. So he chased after her, with Kabal already at the top of the tall dune. As Anya and he joined the masked man, hundreds of the bald-headed men, Tarkatans, now accompanied by the Zaterrans, charged over the sandy dunes. The three quickly ducked out of sight.

"Still think we don't need back-up?" Kabal chided him.

"What do they want you for?" Kuai Liang yelled at Anya as they ran down the hill.

"Because I'm supposed to be chained up right now!" she panted. "Rain was teaching me a lesson."

"A lesson?" he growled. "What kind of a lesson?"

"It doesn't matter!" she cried.

Finally, Kabal spotted several ancient walls and pillars before them, indicating a new set of ruins. "Hey, Frosty, look," he said as he pointed towards them. "We can hide out there."

"I don't think that's a good idea, Kabal," Sub-Zero yelled back as he took Anya's hand to steady her when she started to stumble down the slope. "That's the first place they're gonna look for us."

"I know, but what choice do we have? You two can't possibly outrun those guys. I mean, I can because I'm awesome like that. But you two are slow as molasses in January."

"I'm with him," Anya announced. "Maybe we can make some sort of a stand there."

The Cryomancer almost laughed at that. "Oh, really?" he teased as gravity naturally accelerated their speed, and they raced towards the ruins. "This from the person who ignored everything I tried to teach her about fighting because she was a nurse and had sworn to do no harm to people?" He wasn't even trying to contain his bitterness now.

"I'd rather fight those guys than go back to Rain!" she shouted back, much to his surprise.

Suddenly, his anger evaporated, but she threw off his hand and pulled ahead in spite of her sheer skirts and heavy cloak. Anya was a fast runner, much faster than he realized, and he chased after her in stunned silence. Within seconds, they had reached the outermost walls which were composed of small bricks, but they did not stop. Kabal led them straight towards a building halfway sunken into the ground, but had left the uppermost part of the doors free enough to kick in and slip through. The masked man reached the doors long before Sub-Zero and Anya did, and he promptly booted in the rotting wood. Splinters and dust exploded into the air just as the couple reached him.

"Kabal, you go first to make sure it's safe," Kuai Liang ordered, slightly out of breath. "Then I'll send Anya down, and I'll come last."

"Oh sure, send the half-Mexican, half-Iranian guy into the dark, scary hole first," the cop joked as he sat on his butt and started to slide through. "Make sure that the only ethnic person in the group is the one that gets killed. I'm gonna consider that racial profiling, Frosty. Racist bastard."

"Just get in there," he snapped. "This is no time for joking around!" He looked over his shoulder towards the way they came. The first Zaterrans were already at the top of the sand dune.

Kabal obeyed and passed through. A moment later, Kuai Liang and Anya saw his gloved hands reach through the hole. "I'm okay. Time to send our damsel in distress down."

"I am _not_ a damsel in distress," Anya hissed indignantly as she followed suit. "I prefer the term 'location-disadvantaged female avoiding termination specialists,'" she quipped as Kuai Liang held her hands and lowered her down.

"That's real funny, Anya," the cop said, his voice slightly muffled. "Hey, Frosty, I think your girlfriend is getting her memory back."

"Or at least her attitude," he responded. When he felt Kabal catch her, he let go and caught sight of her rolling her eyes but smiling faintly at him. Then she vanished into the darkness, and he quickly followed.

Sub-Zero found himself in a large antechamber like he expected, noting that the bright light from Kabal's Mag-Light flashlight barely illuminated their surroundings. Anya stood there shivering, not from the coldness down here he guessed, but from fear. He took her hand again to comfort her, and squeezed it to reassure her. He couldn't blame her for being nervous. It _was_ rather creepy in this place. But as the masked man waved his flashlight around, he found a passage, and immediately the three took off running down it.

They were obviously the first people to go through in ages as thick cobwebs stretched from floor to ceiling. At first, they tried to break through with their hands, but Kuai Liang quickly tired of the sticky strands so he formed a new kori sword and started chopping a way through as they raced deeper underground. In minutes, they heard the faint echo of wood crashing behind them.

Anya tugged on Sub-Zero's tunic in a panic. "We need to hide somewhere," she whispered frantically. "You can't let them take me away. Please don't let them take me away. I don't want to go back to Rain."

Suddenly, Kuai Liang understood why her face and ribs were bruised, and once more his rage returned. So if he had pieced everything together correctly, Rain had taken her captive, capitalized on her amnesia by planting a false life in her head, dressed her like a whore, and then beat her to ensure her submissiveness. And if that weren't enough, he had chained her up to further humiliate her, probably not expecting the nurse to escape undetected. How _dare _the Outworlder lay a _finger _on Anya? The Cryomancer did not like killing people, even when he had to for survival, and he always preferred using other means first. But for this…Edenian _prince_? He knew he was going to take great joy in making him suffer before he finished him.

"Don't worry," he tried to soothe her as he pulled her into his arms protectively. All his anger towards her was now gone. "I'm not going to let them do anything to you. I promise."

But as he said that, the ground began to shake violently and the dirt floor ahead of them suddenly glowed green with ethereal energy. All three stumbled as the ground swayed back and forth, causing stone and mortar to sift upon their heads. In moments, a menacing figure emerged through the supernatural circle and rose slowly into the air, levitating a foot off the ground, his wrapped head nearly touching the ceiling. Black bandages wound around his entire body, and his eyes glowed green with that same ghastly energy that he'd materialized from. Sub-Zero immediately recognized the warrior: Ermac.

"Run!" he yelled at them both, pushing Anya in the opposite direction. He briefly remembered how the year prior, the Outworld specter ripped Jax's arms off like they were drumsticks on a turkey. The Cryomancer had fought the warrior during Mortal Kombat, and he had won when he froze him into a solid block of ice, but it was not an easy victory. He certainly didn't want a rematch right now. But beside him, Anya yelped and froze into a stiff statue. He tried to pull her along, but she seemed petrified and fixed in place, only able to look down at her waist in shock.

"Anya, what's wrong?" he asked, but before she could answer, that invisible force that held her still now yanked her back. Startled, she screamed as it threw her on her face and started dragging her towards Ermac.

"Help me!" she cried as Kuai Liang immediately dove towards her outstretched arms, grasping for her hands. He quickly caught them both, but even though he pulled her the other direction to free her, Ermac's magic violently dragged him down the hall as well.

"Kabal!" he yelled at his partner, but he barely got the word out before a blur shot past him, kicking up a cloud of dust and creating a strong wind.

The Cryomancer looked up in time to see the masked man swipe his hook swords across Ermac's chest. Brilliant green energy flooded out, but the specter didn't seem affected. He calmly stretched out his arms and then plowed into the ground, shaking everything. Kabal staggered a bit and didn't see the punch now aimed at his face until it was too late. The blow easily knocked him into the stone wall. But he quickly recovered and threaded the hooks through Ermac's armpits before he spun and threw his prey into the opposite wall, ripping through both limbs as the hooks let go. Immediately, whatever force held Anya by the waist released her as Ermac wailed before he slunk into a new portal behind him.

Shaking like a leaf, the woman jumped to her feet and bolted like a stampeding horse in the opposite direction. Evidently, she was okay, just frightened. Sub-Zero chased after her once more while Kabal zipped past them to scout ahead. The Cryomancer quickly caught her and gripped her hand to reassure her, but as they passed the hallway to the main doors, they saw the Zaterrans surge through the corridor like a plague of locusts. Anya screamed again and threw her hands over her mouth; she clearly did not like the reptilian men. Her cry provoked an excited, carnivorous reaction in them, and with growls that sounded like a crocodile snarling, they raced after the three humans.

Kuai Liang, Kabal, and Anya fled through the corridors a good pace ahead of the creatures, but to the Cryomancer's surprise, two of their fastest broke away from the group and climbed onto the walls as if they had suction cups for feet. They scurried fast like insects, and one of them spat a foul green liquid at Kabal. It missed, but the wall that it hit began to dissolve like melting butter. Some sort of noxious gas wafted from the spot. Sub-Zero turned to throw an ice ball at one of them, but was stunned when he saw they had vanished.

"Well, _that's_ not good," he mumbled just as Kabal cried, "Shit!"

Suddenly, some solid, invisible body tackled the Cryomancer from above, driving him into the dirt with a loud grunt of pain. A split second later, Kabal fell as well. Somewhere behind them, Anya screeched, but Kuai Liang didn't look to see what she was yelling about. Both Earthrealm warriors rolled onto their backs just as the Zaterrans reappeared, standing above them. Kuai Liang wasted no time kicking his reptilian attacker in the groin while his partner counterattacked as well. The creature stumbled backwards, groaning in agony and holding himself as Sub-Zero did a kip-up and immediately slapped the wall with his ice charged palm. A thick sheet of ice grew over the passage, blocking the remaining horde's way and buying the humans some time. But by then, the creature had recovered and had slammed his enemy's head in the wall.

As expected, Kuai Liang felt a rush of blood to his head that automatically turned to dizziness, and he stumbled weakly into the ice. A cut wept blood into his eyes. Now the Zaterran sensed his weakness and laughed. "Puny human," he chuckled. His voice was high and raspy like a cobra's hiss. Without warning, he spat a wad of acid venom at the Cryomancer, who ducked to the side to avoid the bulk of it, but couldn't escape the splatter to his upper arm. Stinging pain ate at his shoulder as the poison dissolved his tunic and flesh, and he groaned as he slapped an icy hand onto the growing wound to freeze the damage. His powers were noticeably weaker, probably because it was more difficult to concentrate with a concussion.

Even still, he took a fighting stance, ignoring the unpleasant way his head swam as he waited patiently for the attack. But suddenly, a hook sword wrapped itself around the Zaterran's neck from behind and jerked violently to the right. The sharp hook dug into the creature's throat and prompted green blood to spray onto the walls. The reptilian man choked and sputtered as he clutched the wound with his clawed fingers, more blood streaming from his flattened snout and toothy mouth. Then the weapon spun him around and threw him three feet to the side, piling him neatly on top of his already dead friend. In seconds, his body relaxed and he slumped, also dead. Kabal stood proudly in a stern posture above them, his hook swords clutched tightly in his hand.

"I could've taken him," Sub-Zero announced.

"You sure, there, buddy? Because you were looking a little pale," his partner shot back as he swiveled his head back and forth. "Where's Anya?" he asked as he put his weapons away.

Kuai Liang felt his eyes widen in mild panic as he started scanning the corridor for some sign of her. "Anya?" he called as he heard the horde of Zaterrans clawing the other side of the ice wall.

"Did she run away?" Kabal wondered, also looking around. "Anya!" he called.

"She couldn't have," the Cryomancer declared. "Look. The cobwebs are intact, and her tracks stay right here." He pointed to a niche in the wall where she'd taken refuge during the fight. He saw her tracks, but they were slightly distorted, smeared almost, indicating that she'd…fallen. He knelt beside the wall and studied it. He noticed a faint seam, a barely noticeable one that indicated this panel was actually a door. And she'd probably gone through it by accident. Kuai Liang wondered if that was why she'd screamed earlier.

"Anya!" he called into it, but heard no answer. A terrible thought suddenly occurred to him. What if Rain had gotten a hold of her again? What if right at that moment, the mysterious man she'd called an Edenian prince was dragging her to God only knew where? Kuai Liang's heart lurched at the possibility. "Anya!" he yelled again, this time pounding on the carved stone.

* * *

After falling down a short shaft, Anya found herself in a dusty anteroom situated at least one level below the previous corridor, and an unpleasant odor like rotting flesh filled her nostrils. Face-first in the dirt, she pushed herself onto all fours and glanced around as her heart pounded in her chest. There was nothing to see in the darkness, not even her own hand in front of her face, and after she stood she backed up uncertainly until she touched the cold wall. The terrified woman breathed heavily and whimpered as she fumbled around with her hands, hoping her fingers would not brush anything but the hewn stone behind her.

Then a grunt echoed around her. It sounded like a large predator chuffing, and Anya quickly covered her mouth with her hands to muffle her noisy breaths. _What the hell was that? _she inwardly yelled as she stumbled against the wall, hoping to find an exit from this dungeon. She heard another low exhalation so she squeezed her eyes shut and hoped that whatever creature was down here didn't notice her.

Suddenly, tiny fiery explosions erupted from torches evenly spaced around the room, illuminating it as Anya yelped in surprise. She now saw the animal she shared it with. It was a man who towered above her, his muscles well-defined and rippling, but completely exposed. No flesh protected his body, and a swarm of flies angrily swirled around him. A fearsome green and blue mask with a contorted white mouth painted on it hid his face. In his hand – rather, _on_ his hand – was a massive metal club covered in tooth-like spikes.

Anya shook in terror, but refused to cower. She narrowed her eyes in determination. "Who are you?" she demanded to know in her most haughty tone.

But the strange man didn't answer her. He merely reached out to grab her.

* * *

While Sub-Zero and Kabal threw themselves into the wall to get it to budge, they heard a faint scream in the distance. "Anya!" the Cryomancer yelled just as the ice wall, now melting slowly, started to crack. The Zaterrans were busting through. He dropped his shoulder down and thrust even harder into the rock, and to no avail.

"Run!" Kabal yelled at his comrade.

"I'm not leaving without her," he stubbornly replied.

"We'll find her another way," the other hissed through his mask. "Come on!"

Grudgingly, Kuai Liang acknowledged his partner was right. If the Zaterrans broke through while they were still there, it wouldn't matter what had happened to Anya. They'd almost certainly be dead in seconds. With a reluctant grunt, he got to his feet, still slightly woozy from the concussion he took only minutes before, and followed Kabal through the corridor. The masked man, who took point, quickly and easily cut through the thick cobwebs.

The hallway sloped down at a steep incline, and as they ventured deeper into it, it grew darker. Thankfully, the detective's heavy-duty flashlight gave them enough light to see ahead. As both men ran around a sharp corner, they saw a faint glow shining through a door far below at the end of the long ramp and heard the dull thud of a heavy weapon slam into a rock wall. That was immediately followed by a distinctly feminine grunt then yelp. Suddenly, a small flood of water gushed from the doorway.

"Anya!" Sub-Zero called to her, but she didn't answer. Frustrated by the lack of reply, he pushed Kabal out of the way and rushed past. He quickly reached the doorway, a Romanesque stone arch, and peeked in. New relief filled him when he saw that she was unscathed and standing against a wall looking at something beyond his view. Now that he knew she was okay, annoyance replaced relief, and he charged into the room to grab her. "Why didn't you answer me? We were looking for you," he snapped as gripped her wrist to tug her along.

But her eyes remained glued on a spot before her and she refused to budge. Kuai Liang followed her line of sight to see what was so interesting, and saw the reason. A man – taller than him, flayed of his skin, chiseled muscles weeping steaming blood, dripping water, wearing a Chinese Shigong mask – raised an arm capped with a metal club. Just as Sub-Zero registered the man's presence, the imposing figure chopped the weapon towards his head.

"No!" Anya screeched as a jet of water unexpectedly exploded from her palm and knocked the creature off balance.

"How did you-" the Cryomancer trailed off in astonishment before the man lunged towards him again.

Immediately, he leapt to the side as the spiked club hacked downward and barely missed him a second time. Now the demonic entity growled because the spikes on his weapon got stuck in the ground. As his opponent struggled to get free, Sub-Zero ran up his bent knee and began pummeling him in the face with a powerful barrage of punches. Kabal, meanwhile, ran behind their enemy, whirled gracefully around, and sliced into his oozing back muscles. The figure glanced back and regarded the deep lacerations as mere paper cuts. Then with a strained grunt, he yanked his club once more and finally dislodged it before he reared back and punched the Cryomancer in the chest with his other hand.

The air instantly left Sub-Zero's lungs as his old rib injuries screamed in protest. He hit the wall with a hard crack and then slumped to the ground while the man twisted around and clubbed Kabal in the chest too. His partner flew backwards and landed hard on his oxygen canisters, unable to breathe now as well. Through his special mask, Kuai Liang heard his comrade wheeze and gasp for air. The flayed man chuckled in satisfaction.

"Do you two pathetic mortals really think you can defeat Drahmin, the Oni Tormentor from Netherrealm?" he asked. His voice was decidedly deep. He swung his club at the Cryomancer again, but his target quickly rolled out of the way before it hit him.

"Kuai Liang!" Anya cried worriedly as the weight of the club cutting through the air kicked up a wind. He looked up and saw her face go hard with anger and determination as she wound her arm back like a baseball pitcher's before she thrust her palm forward, and with it another jet of water.

Drahmin stumbled backwards as the water sprayed through his mask and into his eyes. He groaned, startled by it, but was not so stunned that he didn't see the ball of glowing blue energy flying towards his head. The demon kept the game alive when he caught the ice ball with his club like a batter hitting a homerun. Suddenly, a pained howl escaped him as a blue-white frost gradually consumed the spiked metal weapon, and then Kabal bolted back into the fight in a colorful blur and hit the frozen limb with a hook sword. Instantly, it shattered like glass. Sub-Zero laughed triumphantly.

Infuriated, Drahmin charged after the Cryomancer again, but at the last possible second, Kuai Liang leapt into the air and kicked him in the back. Though the blow didn't have enough momentum to hurt the demon, it had enough force to make their enemy flail into the wall. He roared like a lion as he whirled around to face the three humans, and then he lunged at them. This time, Anya sprayed another jet of water at him from her palm to ward him off, and just as it left her outstretched hand, Sub-Zero froze it. Immediately, it became an icy spear that lodged itself so hard into Drahmin's ribs that it pinned him to the wall like a moth in an entomologist's box. The demon groaned as his hands wrapped around the makeshift weapon.

Anya looked at him with eyes wide and mouth hanging open. "I-" she started to speak, but her voice trailed off while Kabal offered Kuai Liang a hand and lifted him to his feet. Then the Cryomancer grabbed her wrist and tugged her along. They'd already wasted too much time with this guy.

"Come on, Ahn," he ordered. "We have to go."

She didn't argue, and instead followed the two men as they led her into and down a corridor. They ran as fast as their feet would carry them before the darkness cleaved in two like a melon. The nighttime, somehow brighter than inside the ruins, streamed in through a hole in an ancient wall just barely big enough to squeeze through.

"Kabal, you first," Sub-Zero ordered.

"Wow, you _do _care about the ethnic guy," the other joked.

"Just go before I change my mind," he replied.

"All right! I'm going, I'm going," he muttered as he climbed through.

"You're turn," Kuai Liang said to Anya when his partner was safely outside to keep an eye on her. She smiled faintly at him before he lifted her up until she could reach Kabal's arms. When the Cryomancer was satisfied the detective had her in his grasp, he let go. As expected, she slid through as well.

"Let's go!" Kabal yelled at them a moment later when Sub-Zero was through the hole also. The masked man took off running in a blur with his friends, who were now holding each other's hands tightly, following.

The Cryomancer thought they might actually escape these ruins unscathed when suddenly, a loud crack filled his vision with black and blue stars. A terrible pain surged through his head, and he collapsed onto his face. Beside him, Anya yelped as an invisible force grabbed her, rolled backwards as it carried her like a rag doll, and then threw her about ten feet. With a groan, she tried to push up, but the invisible force materialized, revealing a Zaterran warrior dressed in more elaborate armor than the others. Sub-Zero recognized the Outworld General from the Mortal Kombat tournament last year; he was called Reptile and he immediately grabbed Anya in his scaly arms. Ahead of them a short distance, Ermac had a writhing and grimacing Kabal suspended high in the air.

As Kuai Liang rubbed the back of his head and staggered to his feet, thinking Reptile had been the one who'd hit him, another blow caught him and knocked him down again. This time, he heard a grating and familiar cackle. He flipped onto his back and saw the face of his sister.

"Hello, Brother," she greeted maniacally as she clutched a thick bo staff in her hands. "Where are _you_ off to in such a hurry?"

"Frost," he hissed as he jerked his arm at her to lob an ice ball at her. With a satisfied grunt, she stomped on his wrist, prompting him to howl as it cracked inside his brace. Then she kicked him in his old rib injury just for good measure. He involuntarily curled into the fetal position as sharp pain coursed through his side. He groaned.

"Welcome to _my_ world," she said as she aimed her own ice-charged fist at his face. "Now get ready to leave it."


	26. Rainstorm

**Author's Note: I need to give a heartfelt shout-out to my friend, HavenRose, who was my sounding board these last few weeks about everything. She deserves much of the credit for the things Kabal said and did in this chapter, but I also give her a knuckle-bomb for helping me with other points as well. School seriously turned my brain into mush, so I greatly appreciated her help getting me back on track. XD  
**

* * *

Kuai Liang turned his heavy head around to see Frost better, but his vision grayed and blurred slightly, splitting her into two indistinct forms. Hot blood streamed from the back of his skull where she'd hit him with her staff. Then there was the sudden, prickly feeling of nausea churning up his stomach. And now he was acutely aware of the way his wrist grated jaggedly inside his skin. If Frost hadn't snapped his joint completely, she tore a ligament or sprained the hell out of it. She knew it too because when she saw his face contort slightly from his discomfort, she ground her boot slowly into his bone. He grunted in pain – proudly refusing to show the true agony he felt – as bolts of lightning raced up his bloodstream. Even still he swung weakly at her with his free fist. He had aimed for one of the two Frosts he saw in his vision, but evidently he chose the wrong one, and he missed her entirely. With a cruel sneer, she kicked him in the face, prompting blood to spill from his mouth as his head cracked backwards onto the rocky soil.

"Sub-Zero!" he heard Kabal's voice call from somewhere nearby. "Get up!" And then: "Frost, don't damage his face! I'm the one who has to look at it for Christ's sake, and I want to keep it pretty!" Through his unfocused vision Kuai Liang thought he saw his partner suspended in the air nearby by Ermac's magic, but he couldn't be sure and at the moment he couldn't bring himself to care. A second later, the Outworld warrior must've tightened his mystical grip on Kabal because the man yelped and cried, "Hey, now! You're very cute and all, Ermac, but only Sub-Zero's allowed to get fresh with me, not some Mummy wannabe who looks like he's heading to his debutante ball. For crying out loud, at least buy me dinner first!"

"My, my, my," Frost began as she ignored the detective's smart-ass remarks and loomed over her older brother with her blue eyes blazing. "However will you get out of this one?"

Then she promptly drove the end of her staff into his nose. Burning tears instantly exploded from his eyes and mingled with the fresh blood from the new break. He groaned and rolled onto his stomach as his legs involuntarily tensed into his belly, forcing him to squirm in the sand. Somewhere far away, muted as if underwater, he vaguely heard Anya screech his name and burst into tears. The Cryomancer held his face in his hands for a long moment while his sister cackled in sadistic glee. After what felt like ages had passed, he was finally able to push himself onto his knees.

"You have no _idea_ how much I'm enjoying this," she giggled, and he glared at her.

"That's enough, Frost!" a new voice barked as Kuai Liang's eyesight erratically darkened and lightened. He blinked rapidly and for long intervals, as if doing so would squeeze out the obvious concussion, while he wiped the blood and involuntary tears from his battered and sore face.

Instantly, a figure wearing red armor – Sektor, the Cryomancer slowly realized – appeared beside him and mercilessly grabbed him by the back of his blue tunic to lift him to his feet. Sub-Zero clumsily swung his good arm at his enemy, but the cyber ninja calmly caught the stunned man's injured wrist while one of the Tarkatans grabbed the other, then both pinned his arms behind his back. Sektor, who laughed hollowly when he deliberately jerked the Cryomancer's arm back more than he needed to, almost seemed to enjoy his captive's grunts of pain.

"Hello, Kuai Liang," he announced as he locked the wounded wrist to the other one with a thick set of metallic cuffs that effectively immobilized his weakened captive. His voice, though it should've been robotic and cold, took on a fiery anger. "I see you're pathetic as always." Now he snapped a metal collar onto the Cryomancer's throat, obviously a tactic to further humiliate the prisoner.

"Sektor," he greeted defiantly as he swallowed the nausea creeping into his throat, refusing to acknowledge that the cyber-ninja had debased him by equating him with a dog. "I've been meaning to have a talk with you."

As if he hadn't heard him, Sektor said, "I hope you enjoyed your time as a fugitive because I am immediately taking you to the Black Dragon to be automated."

"Hey, I know that guy," Kabal called from the air above. "It's the dud Chinese firework. You're far too obsessed with Sub-Zero for your own good, pal. Get over it. I've claimed him already. So go find yourself a nice girl who's willing to polish your rocket and move on. Just make sure you can achieve liftoff, you little red dud, you."

Sub-Zero paid little attention to the red cyber-ninja's usual threat, even though he knew automation was a distinct possibility now, and he especially ignored Kabal's strange quips. Instead he watched Anya fight against Reptile. Both of them were also blurred in his vision, but he still discerned the way she writhed in the Zaterran's grip, grunting and elbowing him in the ribs. He snarled and held her firm, choking her with his forearm in the process. She gasped for air and clawed at her captor's scaly green arms, but he easily ignored her struggle to get free.

Kuai Liang resisted as well because he wanted to help her, but his head suddenly swam uncomfortably between his shoulders. _God, I've had bad concussions before_, he thought as he fought the vomit struggling to escape. _Why now do I get the one to end all others_? As the words raced through his mind, his knees collapsed slightly, forcing his two wardens to lift him up.

"Let me go!" Anya squealed as Reptile impatiently lifted her off her feet.

"Silence!" a silky voice now commanded, and with gradually clearing vision Sub-Zero spotted its owner.

A younger man of comparable height and build to the Cryomancer's own wove his way through the growing crowd of Outworld enemies. He wore a ninja's black clothes beneath a dark purple tunic, and on his head was a purple helmet with ornate gold designs painted symmetrically around it. The cheek guards and golden mask concealed all but his eyes and nose. Tarkatans and Zaterrans alike bowed their heads timidly as the man walked past them and straight to Anya. He was clearly the ringleader of this operation and someone of grave importance.

The man removed his helmet and mask as he stood before Anya, and her voice collapsed into fearful tears. "These men didn't do anything wrong. It's me you want. Please, Rain, let them go," she begged in earnest, still struggling in Reptile's grip. Sub-Zero stiffened. So _this_ was the man who helped the sorcerers assassinate Shao Kahn. So _this_ was Anya's _betrothed_.

Now Rain clicked his tongue loudly at her while he condescendingly waved his finger in front of her face. "Why do you insist on defying me?" he asked. "After all I've done for you…" He placed that finger on her undamaged cheek and stroked it provocatively, tracing a path to her lips which he massaged with his thumb. As Rain caressed her, the Cryomancer briefly imagined snapping those damn fingers right off his cocky hand.

"Get your hand off her," he snarled at the Edenian. His voice was oddly nasal and subdued, but the newcomer still understood the veiled threat in the captive's tone.

Rain smirked as he glanced at Kuai Liang. Then he looked back at Anya. He promptly plunged his hand into her long hair, pulled her face towards him, and kissed her hard. Sub-Zero immediately tried to yank his arms loose to thrash the Edenian, but even ignoring the pain in his wrist he couldn't break free, and instead was forced to watch the unpleasant exchange like a helpless child. His blood boiled as he glared at the Outworld Commander; the other thrust his tongue into her mouth and bit at her lips, but held her head firmly in place so she couldn't escape.

When Rain finally pulled away, he resumed stroking her face and continued: "Unfortunately, my love, your antics this evening must have serious consequences. You could have endured your punishment with honor. But no, you had to waste everyone's time by escaping, dishonoring not just yourself, but me as well. This behavior is unacceptable and childish. It calls for a much harsher punishment than time in chains. Both of these men will be executed for your sins."

Anya yelped, started to bawl, and then begged again. "No, you can't! Please, Rain, that's not necessary. I'll behave. I won't try to escape again." Immediately, she stopped resisting Reptile in order to prove her sincerity.

"I can, and I will," he snarled pitilessly at her. "I have to break that defiant spirit of yours somehow, and since beating you didn't work, putting you in _chains_ didn't work, then I have no other alternative but to execute these men. Perhaps that'll ensure your obedience towards me in the future."

Frost predictably began to laugh and Kabal yelled, "Jesus, Anya, you can _definitely _do better than that son-of-a-bitch," but Kuai Liang didn't even notice them. His thoughts were on Rain's condemnation of him and his partner. He didn't fear death – far from it, in fact – but the Prince's decree threw him headlong into memories of the past when An Zhi did the same thing to Bi-han. The Cryomancer's despicable father used him to coerce his older brother into obedience, and even though Bi-han never said as much, Kuai Liang knew it was a constant source of resentment towards him. He didn't want any part of Anya to hate him like his brother had, no matter how small the seed. And although he didn't want to die because he wanted to live an entire life with her, he'd rather die than let her be enslaved to Rain's will.

"Anya, stop begging for his mercy and listen to _me_," he growled, a cold edge overtaking his unusually frail voice. "I don't care _what _he does to us, don't you _ever_ stop fighting him. You escape-"

Sub-Zero didn't get to finish his thought because Frost promptly hit him in the gut with the end of her bo staff. "Shut up, already," she hissed as he doubled over and threw up. "You're so pathetic it's disturbing."

Rain nodded at the female Cryomancer in vague approval before he continued speaking to his prisoner. "Tell me, Anya," he said, stroking her face once more, "where exactly did you think you were going to go when you escaped this evening? There's nothing for miles, and surely you must've known I'd send out my entire battalion to find you."

She didn't answer for the longest time, instead taking deep breaths to calm her voice. Finally, she met his gaze with a contemptuous one full of rebellion. "Away from you," she snapped as her eyes narrowed and she turned her face to get away from his touch.

"Away from me," he repeated dispassionately. "And straight to the arms of our enemies. To the Cryomancer who tried to kill you by bludgeoning you to death." Rain now glanced at the shocked Kuai Liang, who still struggled against Sektor and the Tarkatan's grasp while Frost grinned manically beside them.

"I did no such thing!" he shouted angrily, then kicked himself for his emotional outburst. Kuai Liang looked at Anya in alarm, worried her amnesia would mask the truth.

"Don't lie," Frost smirked. Sub-Zero tried to lunge again, this time at her, but even if Sektor and the Tarkatan hadn't held him firmly, he couldn't have done much to her. He was rapidly losing what strength he still possessed. Once more, his head involuntarily sank between his shoulders.

"Yes, you shouldn't tell lies to this poor, confused woman," Rain echoed her, but thankfully Anya didn't seem to buy the man's story. Her eyes still blazed in fury as he looked at her and said, "I feel that I'm responsible for this betrayal, my love. Perhaps I was too harsh on you. Then again, maybe I wasn't harsh enough."

Now he looked at Sub-Zero again. "Trust me, Cryomancer, I don't want to have to beat any more sense into her than I have to because her beauty is really her only asset and I'd hate to ruin it, but sometimes, an Edenian prince just has to make an example." He jeered at the captive before he drew his fist back and backhanded Anya in her unscathed cheek. As she yelped and fell into Reptile, Kuai Liang automatically lunged for the man with a furious and incoherent shout, ignoring the crackling pain in his wrist, but was held firmly in place by his captors.

"I'm going to kill you!" he yelled as he squirmed in his wardens' grasp. His attempt was feeble at best. Even with adrenaline coursing through his veins, making his heart pound with rage and bloodlust, bizarre drowsiness now made his eyelids heavy.

"That's an interesting position for you to take considering the precarious spot you're in right now," the other mocked as Reptile held Anya, who was now crying slightly, upright.

The Cryomancer ignored him and focused on her. "Anya, I'll figure out a way to get us all out of this. Trust me." She said nothing as she looked to him, her previously unblemished cheek now an evil shade of purple, but she nodded her head ever-so-slightly and then averted her damp eyes in shame.

"Don't talk to her," Rain snapped at him. "She belongs to me."

"No, she belongs to herself," he argued, slumping again. "And she belongs by _my_ side. And I'll be more than happy to prove my point if you're man enough to take off these cuffs."

The Edenian General smirked. "My poor, confused Sub-Zero," he began. "And why would I do that? The cuffs are destroying you for me."

"What are you talking about?" he said fiercely to mask the sudden concern in his heart.

"Don't you know your collar and cuffs are made of cobalt?" he explained.

"So what?" he snarled.

"So once they kill you, and they will – _soon_ – I can take whatever I want from you, and there's nothing you can do about it," he explained. "I understand that in Earthrealm, cobalt is a rather harmless metal, even to those rare mortals blessed with gifts like ours. But here? Cobalt sucks the life energy from even the most powerful entities, stealing their abilities and eventually their lives. Don't believe me, Cryomancer? Try to freeze your cuffs. I _dare_ you."

Sub-Zero played along. Why would cobalt – _cobalt_ – have no effect in one realm and a terrible draining effect in a different one? It wasn't a particularly remarkable element. So he closed his eyes and inhaled, trying to summon the ice inside his blood to the surface, but something was wrong. He felt the coldness clot into a ball inside his veins, his will propelling it outward, but something anchored it firmly into place. Suddenly, the ice burst inside of him, stabbing him from the inside out. He involuntarily howled in terrible pain as his hands seized in shock, suddenly crippled. Frost laughed at him once more, but this time all of the Outworld warriors laughed along with her.

"Oh ho, look who got his hands on some Cryomancer kryptonite," Kabal angrily taunted from his spot ten feet above the ground. Green mystical chains held him fast. "If you were a real warrior, _Prince Rain_, you'd fight Sub-Zero one on one with his powers intact. Why don't you take that collar off and fight him like a man?"

The demigod rolled his eyes. "I hear an annoying buzzing sound. It sounds kind of like…an ugly lump of meat roasting on an open flame." He sneered as he cast a pointed look at Kabal. Then he looked over his shoulder. "Smoke, take Anya away," he ordered as a new figure approached. Sub-Zero immediately recognized his old friend as the black and gray cyber-ninja wove through the crowd. "And try not to lose her this time, you bungling moron," Rain hissed.

If Sub-Zero didn't know any better, he would've sworn he saw Smoke tense at the warrior's insults. Certainly, the old Tomas would not have tolerated the disrespect. But that faint stiffening must've been the Cryomancer's imagination or wishful thinking because the cyber-ninja bowed to Rain slightly and then took Anya by the arm.

She resisted, but not as much as she had against Reptile. It was almost like she…trusted Smoke. Or at least she trusted him more than she did the others, and Sub-Zero wondered why. He hoped to God she hadn't seen his agony moments ago and lost her will to fight Rain. As if she heard his thoughts, Anya longingly looked at the Cryomancer before the automaton and her teleported away with a loud pop. His heart and head sank. He didn't even get to tell her goodbye. _Himavat,_ he silently prayed, _please look after her and help her escape_.

"Oh, don't look so blue, Brother," Frost teased as the purple-clothed man approached. "At least she's alive. Granted, she's _Rain's_ property now, but that's really just a little thing when you put it in perspective."

"So help me God," he said, lifting his head again. "I'm going to kill you."

"You say that a lot," she retorted, "but do you actually ever make good on your threats?"

"Why don't you come here and find out for yourself?" he shot back. "If you hadn't hit me in the back of the head like a coward, we'd be having a much different conversation right now. Of course, you couldn't do that because you know the only way you can beat me is to sucker-punch me."

"Now, now, now," Rain began as he reached them, "is that any way to talk to your sister?"

"I don't have a sister," Kuai Liang snarled as he glared at Frost.

He chuckled. "I don't blame you for not claiming her. She _is_ quite the annoying little urchin."

"Oh, that hurts coming from the guy who can't…light Anya's fire," Frost grinned evilly as she looked back and forth between Sub-Zero and him.

"A minor setback," Rain replied drily, clearly agitated by the words but refusing to let them affect his arrogant demeanor. "One I will overcome shortly."

It pleased the Cryomancer that the Edenian seemed to be having difficulty seducing Anya. At least he could be reasonably certain their lie of a relationship hadn't become sexual. He couldn't stand the thought of anyone but him, and especially this…this _asshole _Rain, touching her like that. So while he retained his icy mask of hatred for the man, inwardly, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Now tell me, foolish man, why you thought to come to this place without anyone but a dried up piece of boot leather to help you." Rain nodded towards Kabal.

"Because the two of us are more than enough for the likes of you," he replied proudly.

"That's hilarious, Cryomancer. I've heard you had a charming wit," the man chuffed. "The elders say that laughter is the best medicine, and if that's true, you're going to need a healthy dose of it when I'm finished with you."

"What did you do to Anya?" Kuai Liang demanded to know, tired of the games.

"Are you referring to the way Anya knows nothing about you?"

"Oh, I wouldn't say that," he snarled. "She obviously remembers things."

The Edenian bristled in clear annoyance. "Yes, well, I'd like to suggest you're delusional. Quan Chi erased Anya's memories. What you're implying is impossible."

"You're lying," Kuai Liang replied, sniffing out the dishonesty immediately. He was certain Quan Chi _had_ erased her memories. But somehow, they were coming back. Why would she have said they were if they weren't? And now a new thought occurred to him. "And why bother erasing their memories at all?" he wondered aloud.

"Well, that bitch can't exactly resist her bondage if she doesn't know she's a prisoner, now can she?"

"Yes, I can see the wisdom in that," he chided back, seething with fury when Rain called her a bitch, hating himself just as much because he had called her that once as well. "Your plan was brilliant. The last thing you'd need is a prisoner escaping. Good thing you wiped her brain just so she doesn't cause you any trouble. Excellent work with that. I'm sure Quan Chi will be very pleased with you."

Rain chuckled bitterly at that. "Oh, you really _do _live up to your reputation, Cryomancer," he muttered. "That is why I cannot tell you how much I want your very last thought in life to be the knowledge that I'll be in bed with Anya every night, doing things to her that no one from Earthrealm can possibly conjure in their darkest fantasies. When I think about how I've bedded women as beautiful as her and made them scream my name in ecstasy, I'm confident your precious Anya will forget you ever existed."

Kuai Liang narrowed his eyes at Rain but said nothing. He longed to be the one to take the Edenian down a peg or ten, and he vowed he would. Even contained by the cobalt collar and cuffs, he felt the ice in his blood chill deeper at the thought, and his heart grew cold.

"You will not execute Sub-Zero. He will be automated and enslaved like the other Lin Kuei warriors," Sektor interrupted. "He will remember nothing of his disgraceful behavior with that…_woman_." He said the last word like he'd just spoken an obscenity. "And then the Dragon Medallion will be returned to me and I will be the Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei, as Quan Chi promised."

Frost immediately aimed her staff at the cyber-ninja's face. "I don't think so," she hissed. "You're just a walking tin-can. Quan Chi promised me that _I'd _be the Grandmaster."

"I will die before I see a woman ruling the Order!"

"Yes, you will," she snapped as her grip on her staff grew tighter.

Sub-Zero burst out laughing. "You're both idiots," he said with derision as he looked at Rain. "Suddenly, _your Highness_,you actually look somewhat intelligent."

The Edenian crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes, a wicked smile on his face. "They're Quan Chi's grunts, not mine. If I had a say-so in the matter, they wouldn't even be here. But as the High General of the Second Brigade I am compelled to obey Shang Tsung. Unfortunately, he is keeping questionable company these days, as I'm sure you're aware." Rain paused and glanced from Sektor to Frost. "Employing the services of this filth? Especially _Cryomancer_ filth? It's disgraceful."

"I'll try not to take that personally," he said drily.

The Edenian sneered. "Oh, foolish man, you know nothing. Our two races are ancient enemies. Of course, I don't expect you to know that since your ancestor cowardly fled to Earthrealm years ago in order to avoid annihilation at the hands of the Emperor."

"I wasn't aware that pond scum _was _a race," he spat at the General.

"Careful, Sub-Zero. It's one thing to insult me. But I just won't have you insulting my _betrothed_." The Cryomancer frowned, but waited for his enemy to speak. What the hell was this guy talking about? Rain chuckled. "When Noob Saibot and Smoke first brought your precious little Anya to Outworld, Quan Chi offered her to me as payment for my services. The only reason I accepted her was because I quickly discerned her true heritage. She's a Hydromancer, just like me."

"I don't know what that means," he growled.

The Edenian guffawed. "Oh, come now, Cryomancer! Surely you've noticed how she can now form water from nothingness. I put her in touch with her latent gifts, you see. But even apart from that, I know she was what you humans call a nurse. A healer. We Hydromancers were blessed by the great water goddess, Eidothea, with the ability to heal whomever we wish."

Kuai Liang said nothing as he thought about the way Anya's touch soothed any ailment or injury like a balm. He remembered the way he'd felt when Sareena had stabbed him, and how she'd held his hand to comfort him, and it had somehow eased his pain. In fact, whenever he felt sore or sick, just the faintest sensation of her fingers on his body alleviated the problem. How many times had he told himself that she was probably the best nurse on the planet? Even now, he longed for her touch, knowing that somehow it'd reinvigorate him enough to fight a little longer.

Rain flashed a cocky smile at him. "That is why it is only right for her to be with me. You have nothing in common with her. Eidothea's blood flows through her veins, and it should not be diluted by an impure, filthy breed like you. I am the son of Argus, a demigod and the rightful ruler of Outworld. Your blood is black with dirt next to mine. I am clearly better suited to her.

"_Himavat's_ blood runs through _my _veins," he hissed in annoyance. Spots now danced in his vision. He felt like he was going to faint.

Rain chortled at that. "As it runs through mine. Know this, Cryomancer: you're a mongrel race at best, the bastard children of one of his many affairs. But Eidothea is his only legitimate daughter by his true wife. Therefore, the Hydromancers are his only legitimate descendants. Besides, you're Anya's natural enemy. That fate was decided for you long before even I was born. The feud between our two races is the oldest in all the Realms. We do not…_mix _our blood with the Cryomancers. Ever. I'd kill Anya before I let her think about running off with you." The Edenian smiled wickedly at Kuai Liang. "So when Quan Chi is done with her and the other prisoners, I fully intend to use her to mother _my _children and begin to rebuild my glorious race."

"There's only one problem with that," Sub-Zero growled back as his legs started to shake, his muscles now unable to support the weight of his torso.

"Oh?

"She's made it painfully clear she wants nothing to do with you."

The Edenian narrowed his eyes. "Yes, well, the way I see it she has two choices. She can obey my will and do as I tell her, and thoroughly enjoy herself in the process. Or she can defy me, and then I will take what I want by force."

Kuai Liang didn't say anything, but glared viciously at Rain as his hands and arms grew colder deep within. There was once a practice in Japan, he knew, in which Samurai swordsmen-in-training practiced stabbing and making cuts on prisoners condemned to death. At times, they even hacked off limbs. The prisoners' wardens kept them alive for as long as they could before the condemned finally bled to death in slow agony. The Cryomancer immediately decided that if he got out of this situation alive, he would capture Rain, string him up naked to humiliate him for even _thinking_ about raping Anya, and indefinitely let his young Lin Kuei students take turns practicing their knife work on his body just like the old Japanese swordsmen. With modern advances in science and medicine, Sub-Zero knew he could keep the Edenian alive for years, and he would gladly prolong his suffering for as long as he humanly could. But he said none of this to the demigod.

"Ermac," the purple-clad General began, "bring the other one to me."

Kuai Liang watched quietly as the fearsome warrior in the black wrappings and red _sirwal_ robes obeyed Rain's command and compelled Kabal's levitating body to float towards him. Ethereal green chains held him fast, and the Cryomancer now noticed that his partner strained against his magical restraints. At least he seemed unscathed. For now, anyway. Sub-Zero wondered if Ermac would rip Kabal's arms off like he'd done to Jax over a year prior.

"Line them up," the General barked at Ermac. Immediately, Sektor and the well-dressed Tarkatan warrior released Sub-Zero, but their powerful hold over him was replaced by an invisible set of arms wrapping around him. Magical green energy swirled around his body, constricting him tightly like a viper, and lifted him off his feet. Before he knew what was happening, the energy carried him and Kabal both against a ruined wall. The Cryomancer squirmed, but instantly understood his partner's plight; his body had as much strength as a jar full of jelly to begin with, but now the harder he tried to move, the weaker he grew.

"What are you doing to my brother?" Frost demanded to know, her eyes wild and full of hatred. For a brief moment, Kuai Liang almost thought she didn't want him to die after all.

"What do _you _care, Cryomancer vermin?" Rain replied. "I thought you'd be happy to see him executed."

"This was _not_ part of our deal, Outworlder," Sektor now hissed at Rain. "I was promised revenge. I was promised he'd be automated."

The demigod looked at the cyber-ninja in amusement. "Wrong, my mechanical servant," he replied. "Your deal was with Quan Chi. But I do not see the sorcerer here to stop me. Sub-Zero is a thorn in my side, and I'm simply going to do to him the only thing that can be done to thorns to permanently dispose of them: _burn him_."

Now he looked at Kabal. "I know you've already had some experience with burning, my friend, but if it's any consolation, _your_ execution is nothing personal. You just should've chosen your company more wisely. Death follows the Cryomancers wherever they go. It's their God-given curse. Too bad you'll never get the chance to learn from your mistake."

"Give me my brother!" Frost squealed impatiently.

"Give me one reason not to have my men execute you as well," Rain hissed as he crossed his arms and glared at her.

"I want to make him suffer!" she shrieked. "Death is too easy." Sub-Zero had to roll his eyes. Of course that's why she wanted him to live. She just didn't quit.

"Baraka, escort her back to Quan Chi," Rain ordered the Tarkatan warrior who'd been the Cryomancer's warden up until a few moments ago. "And if she does not go willingly, I will make sure he knows about it." He gave her a pointed look to accompany his threat. Obviously, an understanding passed between them, and Kuai Liang suspected Quan Chi had threatened Frost for her defiance in the past.

"Fine," she grudgingly agreed. "But at least let me bid farewell to him." Rain nodded his assent as she sauntered to Sub-Zero and he motioned for some of his men to approach. "Goodbye, Brother," she said softly. "I wish I could be there in the Netherrealm to see the flesh stripped from your bones, but just know that I'm with you in spirit. That fallen little angel on your shoulder."

"I'm not going to Netherrealm," he replied confidently, though deep inside, he wasn't sure about that at all.

"You have such faith," she smirked as if she'd read his thoughts. "How cute."

"You know what's cute?" Kabal broke in. "Me."

"Don't flatter yourself," she snarled as a look of revulsion crossed her face when her brain registered the subtle innuendo in his voice.

Undaunted, he replied, "You know, Frost, if you weren't such a psychotic bitch, I might actually find you hot in a dominatrix sort of way. But you're just a tad too fruit loops for me, so you're not. In fact, you're downright hideous."

"What are you doing?" Sub-Zero snapped at him in confusion. Why provoke this monster further, especially when there was nothing to be gained from it?

But an evil smile simply crossed her face, and she sauntered provocatively in front of the cop. She stroked his face tenderly before her fingers drifted down his cheek and suddenly clamped on his throat. Kuai Liang saw her press so hard her fingernails dug bloody little crescents into his textured skin, and he started to choke as she ruthlessly stared into his goggles. "Speaking of hideous," she began calmly, "I heard you almost died not too long ago when that overgrown house-cat breathed fire on you, and that's why you're so _pretty_ now." Frost cocked her head at an angle and stared at him condescendingly. "By some miracle, you survived that whole ordeal. But unfortunately for you, now it's _my _turn to host the cook-out." A dark shadow crossed her face and she threw his head back by his neck, releasing her grip.

Kabal coughed hard for a long moment before he lifted his head and looked at her directly. "We both hate you, Frost," he said. "We really do. We hate you from the bottom of your hooves to the top of your pitchfork."

"Yeah, keep that sense of humor, _handsome_," she chided. "Because _that'll_ get you through this."

"I have a feeling you're gonna be joining us soon," Kuai Liang muttered as he watched Rain organize a handful of Tarkatan archers, almost certainly their firing squad. They dipped their arrowheads into a small cast-iron pot full of foul, green goo.

"Yeah, Frost," Kabal continued, deeply engrossed in trading insults with Frost and not noticing their executioners, "and when the Dark Prince – not this lovely Edenian chap who's obviously _such_ a hit with the ladies, but the _real_ Dark Prince – does finally call you home, please promise me that you'll donate your body to science. And I don't mean medicine, I mean NASA. Because when those nerds have given up on trying to figure out just exactly what a black hole is, and they get one look at that space where your heart was supposed to be, well golly-gee, you just know they're gonna say, 'Hey, that's what it is!'"

Frost started to open her mouth to reply, but Rain interrupted her. "You stupid woman," he snarled, "he's playing you. He's trying to provoke you into doing something rash."

"That's not true," Kabal protested. "I was genuinely enjoying myself for a minute there."

The Edenian shoved Frost out of the way before he calmly held up one of the arrows dipped in the strange liquid. He looked back and forth from Sub-Zero to Kabal, the Cryomancer blacking out for seconds at a time now. "Do you know what this is?" he asked the pair.

"An arrow?" the detective replied simply.

"Obviously," Rain sneered. "But I was actually referring to the substance on the tip. It's Zaterran venom. They secrete it from glands in the back of their throats, and it will burn through anything. It's probably some of the most caustic acid in all the Realms. I have all my archers dip their arrows into the stuff. Do you want to know why?"

Both prisoners looked at him with dumbfounded expressions and said as one, "I'd explain it to you, but your head would explode."

"Nice!" Kabal said in amusement as he looked at Kuai Liang, who had also permitted himself a moment of quiet laughter too. Hell, he was about to die anyway. Why not? He shrugged slightly.

"Cute," the demigod said flatly. "The venom doesn't burn quickly. It takes its time to thoroughly ravage your innards. When my archers shoot you, you'll have roughly twelve hours before your vital organs are completely liquefied and destroyed. It's a slow and certain death, and excruciating." He glanced at Frost, and she beamed with delight as he ushered her out of the line of fire.

Kuai Liang surveyed the red-orange eyes of the Tarkatan archers as they poised to fire their arrows at him and Kabal. He would show no fear. _Himavat, take care of her_, he prayed again, inhaling deeply and closing his eyes while he thought about Anya one more time.

"Archers!" Rain yelled to his men. "On my mark, fire on the prisoners."

"Hey," Kabal whispered to Kuai Liang, "for what it's worth, it's been fun."

"Three!" the demigod cried.

The Cryomancer looked at him in surprise and nodded. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry I attacked you the other day."

"Two!"

Kabal laughed. "Please, I took worse beatings when I worked for the Black Dragon. Kind of happens that way when you're running guns for shady people, you know."

"One!"

Sub-Zero nodded. "That, I do. Thanks for all your help, Kabal. Sorry I got you into this mess."

"Well," he chuckled, "at least you're going down with me. Score one for the ethnic guy."

He smiled half-heartedly. "If you say so."

"Mark!"

* * *

**Author's Note: I didn't include this part of the note at the beginning because I didn't want to spoil anything for anyone. But I realize that there's probably a bunch of people itching right now to yell at me for making Frost overpower Sub-Zero. Um, yeah. Please don't. I did that on purpose. She sucker-punched him from behind not once, but twice. All things being equal, yeah, she'd never overpower him. The only way she _could_ theoretically win a confrontation with him is by cheap-shotting him. And I needed her to win this particular confrontation in order to set things in motion for future chapters. Trust me. It's all part of the plan...;)**


	27. The Veil Parts

**Author's Note: Are you as thrilled as I am to have survived the zombie apocalypse on December 21st? LMAO I hope everyone's new year is starting well! **

**So, I kind of thought it best to draw out the cliffhanger from the last chapter because I am fairly sadistic, and my friends HavenRose, Firebending Master, and Overseerneversleeps agreed with m****e. Guess you'll have to wait a little bit longer to see what happens to our hero and his loveable sidekick, LOL As always, thanks and love to my pen pals for being a constant source of reassurance, and to all of you who read my work, and for encouraging me to keep doing what I love the most: writing.  
**

* * *

With a loud pop, Anya stumbled through the event horizon of Smoke's personal portal and fell into the ancient dirt with a yelp. As her warden followed her through, she promptly scrambled to her feet and started to bolt in the other direction, determined to escape. Kuai Liang's voice echoed through her ears – _don't ever stop fighting him_ – and she knew he was right. She had to get away from Rain.

When she'd clamped her hands on the Cryomancer's arm earlier, Anya had caught a glimpse of one of his fondest memories resonating deep inside him; to get even with her for spiking his iced tea with India ink, which temporarily stained his teeth a purplish-black, Kuai Liang had followed her outside the Lin Kuei temple one afternoon. Unaware she was being stalked, she had knelt down to feel what Arctic snow felt like, how it differed from the snow back home. The Grandmaster, more than happy to show her, promptly scooped a handful into his palms, packed it into a ball, and smeared it into her face from behind. At the time, Anya vaguely remembered her agitation with him for the prank, but as she experienced it through his eyes, she couldn't help but burst out laughing as she watched herself make a strange face like a retarded, cross-eyed fish while she sputtered and frantically batted the snow off her nose.

Although that memory was the only thing she'd actually seen when she touched Kuai Liang, it was accompanied by an overwhelming impression that there were thousands more moments just like it buried in his heart. Furthermore, through that one memory, she discerned that everything Rain had told her about herself was a lie. He was not her betrothed. She didn't belong in Outworld, but rather in Earthrealm where her real friends and family – and especially Kuai Liang – lived. Anya even detected a nervous urge to ask her to marry him, and thoughts about a special family ring. _She belongs by my side_, the Cryomancer had said to Rain, and she had suddenly realized that her bizarre daydreams of him weren't dreams at all, but memories trying to poke through. The truth was overwhelming in its certainty. She really _did _belong by his side.

Only now, Rain meant to kill Sub-Zero, and Anya knew she had to do something to save him. She just had to save herself first.

But as she fled towards the stone archway deep within the ruins, a menacing white figure stepped across her path and threw a hand wreathed with green energy into the air just as she reached him. Immediately, a tight, invisible cord wrapped around her waist and yanked her backwards with a stunned cry. In a second, the ground knocked the air out of her when she landed spread-eagle on her back, her chest deflating instantly as a hollow grunt escaped her. Pained tears sprang to her eyes as she struggled to breathe. The red tattooed man, Quan Chi, loomed above her with a dispassionate expression faintly splayed on his lips as he studied her gasping face.

"Thus far, I have patiently entertained Rain's desire to play house with you, Anya," he began. "I have allowed him to treat you as his honored guest. But you are sorely trying my patience. Fortunately for you, I still need you alive."

"Lucky me," she coughed as she struggled to sit.

"Let's not be hasty in our assertions," the sorcerer said. "I said I need you alive. I didn't say it would be a pleasant experience. Luck has nothing to do with it."

Immediately, he flicked his glowing wrist again. This time, Anya's arms wrenched themselves painfully behind her back as a thin rope made of twine, also wreathed in ghastly green ether, snaked its way around her joints. It bound her securely, and then it climbed through the air to a wooden beam situated high above the ground. She watched in curious terror as it slithered over the top of the rafter and then slowly hoisted her up, her body led by her hyperextended arms. When Anya's feet first scraped the ground and then left it completely, tendons and muscles snapped as she felt the joints beneath twist unnaturally on their hinges. Beneath her clavicle, jagged lightning bolts surged through every nerve as her arms stretched too far upwards in the wrong direction, threatening to pop completely out of their sockets.

Tears streamed down Anya's face as she shuddered and whimpered in agony. Her tormentor sneered at her obvious pain, spun his wrist with a dramatic flourish, and watched as the magically compelled rope tied itself off. Her bare feet were nearly three feet off the ground. She could scarcely breathe in this position, and even if she could muster the ability, she wasn't sure she'd want to. The short pants she _could_ take were microseconds of torture, each one blazing through both her arms with sharp, sparking embers that would devour her if fully ignited. And then something _did _fully ignite then; her shoulders collapsed with a loud crack and her body dropped slightly from the added length, causing her to howl so loudly at the sudden heat in her arms that dust snowed from the ceiling onto her head.

"I trust you'll stay put now," he mocked before he looked at Smoke, who now stood behind him. "Do not leave her alone this time," he growled. "The consequences will be dire if she should escape again, for you _and_ for the rest of Sektor's Tekunin clan."

Smoke gave a half-hearted bow. "Yes, Quan Chi," he said in his synthesized voice.

"We will be leaving these ruins shortly." Without another word, the white-skinned man stepped through an oily black portal.

As she tried not to move, Anya looked down on her warden through tear-flooded eyes. He stared back at her through his visor, and she cursed every fiber of his mechanical being because she couldn't see his face. She needed to see _something_ of an emotional response to her suffering, be it empathy or mockery, just to help her decide if all this was really happening. But the cyber-ninja's bitter coldness made her feel unreal, and that hurt worse than her torture.

"Help me," she exhaled slowly and softly, more out of desperation than anything. The words startled her when they escaped her, mainly because she knew he wouldn't do anything of the sort.

But to Anya's surprise, Smoke immediately crouched beneath her and maneuvered her bare feet onto his shoulders before he stood up slowly. As she rose higher into the air, the tension on her trunk lessened, giving her relief. She inhaled deeply as the pain slowly gave way to sleepy tingling and dull throbbing. Her head sagged, though the strain of the motion sent shards of glass through her neck and arms.

"You must carefully slide down in order to sit on my shoulders," he told her.

"No, I can't," she whimpered as she sniffled and studied his helmet, thinking about how hard it would be to move like that without the use of her arms. "It hurts too much."

"You cannot balance on your feet on my shoulders for long," he said matter-of-factly. "In your weakened state, I predict that you will fall in two point nine-zero-seven minutes. Because your shoulders are already dislocated, further damage to the joints could cause various muscle ruptures, torn tendons and ligaments, and nerve damage resulting in paralysis. The long-term effects of these injuries will cause you greater discomfort than sliding onto my shoulders into a sitting position. Therefore, in order to avoid more injury and pain, it is only logical for you to obey me."

Anya knew he was right. Even if she didn't fall from clumsiness, she would eventually fall from exhaustion. She couldn't fathom the excruciating pain from that, to say nothing of the widespread injuries it would surely cause. So reluctantly, she bent her knees and timidly slid a foot over Smoke's smooth chest plate armor. Unexpectedly, he caught her ankle with his robotic fingers. At first, Anya yelped in fear, but then she quickly realized he meant to stabilize her descent in order to ensure she didn't wildly flop down. Thankful for the added support, she relaxed and allowed him to guide her body downward with his sheer, mechanical strength and precision. After a few minutes of careful positioning, she finally found herself straddling his neck as if she were riding an animal.

"Thank you," she mumbled softly when at last she was settled. Her swollen arms ached terribly, but she was relieved for the brief respite. She leaned forward and closed her eyes.

Smoke said nothing to her expression of gratitude, and instead wrapped his arms around her thighs to further stabilize her. As his heavily armored hands brushed against her skin, Anya suddenly saw in her head a shrieking cacophony of images that bounced around from thought to thought in no linear order. A hot, steamy cavern dripping with scalding water somewhere deep in the bowels of the Earth, and a pair of eyes glimmering like polished platinum staring back at her from the darkness. A temple high in a chain of mountains where boys and men clothed in black robes and tunics of every color of the rainbow trained incessantly to kill. An explosion. A white-hot explosion that screamed in anguish through her head as it carried her mangled body on a shockwave before it crashed into the ground. A secret underground base. Alleys in an old city, and dumpsters for scraps of food. Men in black robes bearing daggers over her body tethered to a wooden table, men in teal gowns bearing scalpels over her body strapped to a steel surgical gurney, and all of them blurred into one vision. A demon wraith inside her head, watching her every thought just as she watched his. The feel of a knife as it plunged between her ribs. A woman with a gentle face and smoker's cough spitting up blood. A passageway to freedom, covered by a broken grate that swung upwards without much effort. Fire biting at her skin. Two boys. One with snow-white hair, the other with dark brown, facing each other for the first time in a large hall beside a long, banquet table.

_My name is Kuai Liang. _Suddenly, the brunette boy was an adult, scowling at her coldly as they battled intently on a bridge in a vast city, all odds of winning the fight against him yet determination shining in his blue eyes regardless. She felt like she had waited her whole life to see that hunger in him. _What's your name?_

_Ohhhh_, she heard herself reply in a young male voice as she became a child again, nervously watching little Kuai Liang from the doorway, wondering if he was a bully like the other boys had been, but thinking it unlikely. When the runty younger boy spoke, she hadn't quite understood him because her English wasn't very good, but he seemed just as lonely as she felt, scribbling on paper with his left hand while his right arm was lashed to his ribs by a special splint. She suspected he was worth the effort to communicate. He threw the pencil across the room in frustration, and out of pity she picked it up and handed it to him. _Tomas._

_ Tomas? Your name is Tomas? _Now she saw the white-haired boy grown into an adult, facing his friend with a cocky grin as they sparred in the courtyard.

_Yes_.

Anya stood unseen several feet to the side of them and watched Tomas intently, noticing his eyes like melted silver, and how his typically mirthful face was now furrowed with desperation. He stopped fighting altogether, and just stood before his puzzle friend with drooped head. Though she'd previously gone unnoticed by both men, the man with the wild, white hair slowly turned his head to look at her with gray eyes. They'd darkened with sorrow and terror.

_My name is Tomas_.

The voice echoed. Then she felt a stainless steel table cold on her naked spine. Doctors wielded scalpels over her. She screamed while they carved at her flesh like she was an animal carcass.

_Help me, Kuai Liang. _

She only stopped her yelling when they put metal implants into her body where she thought her soul would be.

_My __pr̆ítel_.

Where they imprisoned it with microchips and circuits was where her screams finally died.

_My name is Tomas._

* * *

"Make it stop!" Anya screeched as her brain ripped her from Smoke's mind. The psychic energy physically flung her tense body backwards, and the cyber-ninja barely had time to tighten his grip on her legs before she accidentally threw herself off his shoulders completely. He held her firmly as she howled again, this time from the new stress on her dislocated arms. She immediately began to sob as Smoke felt her pulse, already an erratic 106 beats per minute, shoot up to 163. Her blood pressure, according to the sensors built into his palms, was also dangerously high at 178/99, indicating excruciating pain and distress. Since he first took pity on Anya and had lifted her up to give her some relief from Quan Chi's torture, her vital signs had been greatly elevated above normal. Now, however, the cyber-ninja worried about the imminent heart attack looming on the horizon.

But within seconds, Smoke's sensors detected the dramatic decrease in Anya's heart rate and blood pressure. She trembled violently on his shoulders, the bi-product of the adrenaline now coursing through her blood, as she continued to cry.

"You must calm yourself, Annalise Anderson," Smoke admonished flatly, though his own heart fluttered wildly as well. There had been a strange, surging transference of energy between them when he grabbed her legs, and it overloaded his circuits and vital functions for three hundredths of a second before they normalized again. "You will attract unwanted attention."

Anya inhaled deeply and stifled her sobs while she steadied herself on his shoulders once more. "I'm sorry," she apologized, her words strained from her discomfort. "I couldn't control it. I don't know how."

"I do not understand what you are referring to."

"Your name is Tomas," she said softly, halfway choking on her words, ignoring him. "I asked you earlier, but you said it was irrelevant. But it's not."

The cyber-ninja raised a quizzical eyebrow behind his tinted visor. Logically speaking, he knew this to be true. 'Tomas' was the designation given to him upon his birth. But the word had a decidedly discarded feel to it now, not irrelevant but meaningless, like it mattered to no one in the world, least of all him. It seemed rather like a tattered shirt too threadbare to use even as a rag, therefore it had been tossed into the garbage pile. That name was an old reality. But he had a new reality now, a new designation. The name 'Tomas' no longer meant anything.

Except that cloying voice inside screamed that it did.

"I am unit LK-7T2," he stubbornly insisted at the behest of his Slaving Protocols. They could no longer suppress the rebellious thoughts in his head, but they still had the power to suppress the urge to articulate them.

"You're not a machine," she shot back with equal tenacity. "Under all this crap, I know you're a human. I saw your memories. Your name is _Tomas_."

The news that she'd accessed his thoughts did not surprise Smoke, nor did it alarm him. Her words only moments ago prepared him for her confession. Furthermore, he'd heard Rain say that as part Hydromancer, Anya had latent psychometric talents that he'd managed to unlock, or so he boasted. What unsettled the cyber-ninja – and it wasn't even so much an unsettling as it was a shifting of his sense of certainty – was how adamant she was about his old name. Why couldn't she understand it didn't matter?

"I am unit LK-7T2," he repeated.

"No, you're not!" she yelped, twisting slightly on his shoulders. "Don't you dare say that like you're one of them, or worse, like you're Sektor, because you're not. You're more than that." He heard her groan now as she squirmed.

Smoke cocked his head to the side and contemplated her words. He felt inexplicably lighter inside his chest. He realized it was because she'd acknowledged he was still there. He wasn't dead, just trapped. Anya somehow understood that his essence was not a memory, but a prisoner in need of liberation. But the Slaving Protocols, more determined than ever, stifled his voice when he tried to speak to her. So Smoke stood in place silently, mentally wrestling with his programming.

But the harder he fought against them, the more they projected painful images through his mind to punish him for his defiance, almost as if they dared him to regain his feelings. Grave shame, the first real emotion he'd felt since his automation, surged through him as he recalled the heinous crimes he'd committed in that year and a half time span.

During Shao Kahn's invasion, for example, he'd been charged with rounding up humans to sacrifice to Quan Chi's soulnado, and he'd done his job expediently. But it was not the accusatory stares of his victims that seared his mind's eye. He remembered the way a teenage boy had fired a shotgun at him, spraying him with a concentrated blast of birdshot. The tiny balls bounced harmlessly off his armor, but Smoke had killed the boy anyway. He'd launched his mechanical kunai spear from his palm through the boy's chest, reeled him back to him, and quickly snapped his neck until his face had turned completely around like an owl's. Then the cyber-ninja took the screaming girl the teenager was protecting, presumably his sister judging by the genetic similarities, and threw her into the soulnado.

Smoke thought of the women the Black Dragon had artificially inseminated to produce progeny for the Lin Kuei to harvest. He, Cyrax, Sektor, and several other cyber-ninjas had kidnapped young women in their prime childbearing years from the surrounding villages, and the youngest was fourteen. After they were impregnated, Oniro had them chained in chambers in the temple basement where they were hooked up to IVs in order to ensure their physical health. It hadn't started out that way. Initially, they were only locked inside the rooms. But when the woman carrying Sektor's offspring found a broken spear and tried unsuccessfully to abort her fetus, the Grandmaster thought it was in the Lin Kuei's best interest to chain the women to the wall for the duration of their pregnancies. When the babies were born, Smoke had been ordered to slay the mothers because their usefulness had run out. At Oniro's command, he snapped their necks and then stacked their bodies in a neat pile in the forest below the temple. The Grandmaster didn't want to expend the energy and resources it would take to dig graves or cremate them, so he told Smoke to let the wild animals devour their carcasses.

Smoke briefly remembered hundreds of other moments just like that one where he ruthlessly murdered innocent people because Oniro or Sektor had commanded him to. But the memory that stung the most was the unusually vivid moment when he and Cyrax threw the female babies born to the Lin Kuei warriors over the cliff near the temple. He'd watched dispassionately as the girls' tiny bodies plummeted hundreds of feet and then smashed on the jagged rocks like eggs flung from a high building onto a sidewalk. A vermillion spray of blood and gore puffed into the air with each one. One of those babies had been his own daughter, and he'd thrown her down himself. Girls had no worth, Oniro had said, especially to the Lin Kuei, therefore they needed to be discarded like trash. Smoke had done his duty without question, without remorse, without anything.

Genetically, the girl had born a striking resemblance to the man he used to be before his automation. She possessed the same shining eyes colored silver and white hair like Himalayan snow. And her body was tiny, even tinier than her twin's, the boy the slave women kept for the Lin Kuei and named Alexander. Those same women had given Smoke's daughter no name. Logically speaking, why would anyone name trash? Unaware he did so, he wrenched his eyes shut in guilt and grief as he'd remembered what he'd done to his own child.

Suddenly, the voice inside of him screaming for control quieted.

_Do you still think you want your soul back?_ his Slaving Protocols mocked. But then he realized it wasn't the Protocols at all. His mind immediately stopped resisting.

"Well, say something," Anya panted uncomfortably.

"You talk too much. Suffer your punishment in silence."

Smoke's armor sensors immediately registered the sudden tension in her muscles. But once more, he was devoid of emotion and did not care that she was offended by his statement. Anya ignored his directive, however.

"You can't stop fighting because of the guilt about your daughter," she told him as she let out a half-groan when she shifted her body. Smoke surmised that her pain was tremendous now, which made her tenacity even more perplexing. He'd assumed that people in torturous agony wouldn't want to talk.

"Be quiet," he barked. Something invisible vibrated in his chest cavity. It was sharp and hot, but mostly cruel. Worst of all, it hurt. It stabbed at the scabs his soul had formed over his past deeds, threatening to break them loose.

"No," she argued. "You still have your son."

Smoke blinked. "Alexander," he muttered. He hadn't forgotten his son, exactly. But once the slave women whisked him away, he hadn't given the child a second thought. In spite of his Slaving Protocols, the emotions returned at the sound of the boy's name.

"Kuai Liang has him now."

"I…know."

"He took him to protect him. He's safe now."

"Do you know where he's at?" Smoke blurted out. His cold, cybernetic voice was failing him. Though filtered through synthesizers, that voice sounded decidedly…human…now.

"At the new Lin Kuei temple."

Smoke now felt a tiny stab of anger towards his old friend. He'd told the Cryomancer, several times in fact, that if he ever was blessed enough to have a family of his own, he didn't want them to have anything to do with the Lin Kuei. Evidently, his wishes were not respected. Suddenly, Smoke no longer wanted to be in Outworld, doing Sektor's bidding. He wanted to go to the new temple and reclaim that which was rightfully his.

"He loves Alexander like he was his own son," Anya said, her voice shaky and strained. "He'd die to keep that boy safe because he knows how much you love him too, even if you don't know it yet."

_But I do know it_, Smoke's inner voice whispered.

"Kuai Liang loves you too. You're like a brother to him. You helped him survive his childhood. You helped him learn what it was like to have fun." Anya stopped speaking, and he heard her crying softly to herself. Smoke wondered what prompted these fresh tears. Perhaps it was from the pain in her arms again, but her vital signs were gradually decreasing to normal levels, an involuntary action that was not consistent with physical duress. She resumed her speech a moment later, her voice breaking. "He hasn't given up on you, you know. He has deep faith that he can save you."

"I do not need to be saved," the cyber-ninja snapped. So why did he feel like he did? And why did he feel something like relief to know that Sub-Zero hadn't forgotten him? Confusion at the increasing contradictions overwhelmed his logic. He paused, suddenly suspicious of his prisoner. Somehow, she'd done something to him, and he suspected that she'd planted a virus in his CPU. "How do you come by this information, Annalise Anderson?" he demanded to know as a prickly lump of pain now hardened inside his throat. He swallowed hard, but it only seemed to make it worse. What had she done to him?

And hadn't he stayed close to her just so she _could_ do something to him?

"I don't know, exactly," she mumbled, not noticing her warden's erratic thinking. "When I touched him earlier, I just felt it. You and I are all he can think of right now."

"He is a sentimental fool," Smoke declared, hot tears inexplicably coating his ocular implants and blurring his electronic readouts.

"Tomas, will you be honest with me?" she asked as she shook.

"I am unable to lie," he said pragmatically, and it was true.

"Then who am I, Tomas? What really happened to me?"

"I am not allowed to share that information with you," he answered. "You are not authorized to know."

"I know that story about Kuai Liang trying to bludgeon me to death was bullshit," she hissed. "Please?"

"I am not allowed-"

"Dammit, Tomas!" she yelped. "I'm going to keep pestering you until you give in. I don't know if you've noticed, but I have all the time in the world." And she burst into tears once more.

"That would be an exercise in futility."

"Let me guess," a female voice broke in. A moment of sheer panic at being caught showing mercy replaced all of Smoke's muddled thinking as he turned his helmet to see the newcomer. He saw Quan Chi's lieutenant, Sareena, gazing up at Anya with an expressionless face. "Quan Chi did this to you," she said as she sighed. It wasn't a question, but a statement weighed down with defeat.

"Yes," Anya replied.

"You poor thing," Sareena replied. Her tone was sincere.

"What do you want?" Smoke snapped. He did not trust the demoness. "She is to have no visitors."

"Quan Chi sent me to check on you two to make sure Little _Princess_ was still here," she answered, never taking her eyes from Anya's. "You really are a pretty little thing, aren't you? It's no wonder why Kuai Liang snatched you up as fast as he could."

Smoke detected Anya's heart quickening at the mention of Sub-Zero. Her pulse, which had fallen to 134 beats per minute, shot up to 157. The woman shifted on his shoulders and tried to stifle the subsequent shudder of pain, but she failed miserably and cried out softly as she settled her body once more.

"You are not allowed to speak of it," the cyber-ninja admonished her, though the confused thinking was returning once more and he found himself hoping the demoness told Anya everything because he physically couldn't.

"Shut up, Tin Man, I wasn't speaking to you," Sareena snarled. "Yes, even battered and filthy, you're lovely, Anya. But I don't suppose that really made much of a difference to Kuai Liang, now that I think about it. He's too much about the heart. He actually cares about what's inside a person."

"I know," the prisoner croaked softly.

"I guess beauty is just an added bonus." The demoness put her hands on her scantily clad hips. "I have to admit, you piss me off, Anya. You have everything I want, and you don't even know what that is. Even before you lost your memory."

"Then tell me," she growled.

Sareena smirked. "Honey, that's not important, now is it? What's important is that I'm here to help you. I'm gonna cut you down."

"You cannot," Smoke protested. "Quan Chi made it abundantly clear-"

"Fuck that misogynistic, arrogant bastard," she said. "I'm not setting her free. I just think he's tortured your prisoner enough for one lifetime."

Smoke didn't have an answer for that.

"Besides, we're going to be leaving soon anyway. It's not like his almighty prick will notice if you cut her down five minutes early."

"Why would you help me?" Anya asked tiredly.

"Well, I'm not doing it because I like you or because I want to be friends," the demoness answered bluntly in a mocking voice. She pulled out a knife and aimed for the rope holding Anya high in the air. "I'm doing it because I hate seeing Quan Chi torture women, especially pathetic ones who can't defend themselves. You really should learn to protect yourself, Anya dear," she said in an urgent yet snobbish tone. "Sooner or later, you're going to need it to defend yourself against some man. Even Kuai Liang. _Especially Kuai Liang. _Men don't see people when they look at us women. They just see a sack of meat to be used as desired."

"You're wrong," Anya argued.

_Yes, you're wrong_, Smoke thought.

"You're so naïve, Princess. But I can't make you listen to me. It's just a bit of friendly advice. Take it or leave it."

With that, Sareena threw her knife at the rope and sliced it cleanly through. Immediately, Anya dropped hard onto Smoke's shoulders and wailed as she listed to the side uncontrollably. Her arms, still wrenched and tied behind her back, hung uselessly so it was entirely up to the cyber-ninja to catch and balance her. After a long moment, he finally succeeded in pulling her upright again in spite of her new wave of sobbing.

"Put the bones back in place, Assassin," Sareena ordered. "And then Little Princess can use her newfound powers to heal the rest of the damage." She retrieved her knife, which had fallen on the other side of the room, and then approached Smoke and Anya.

"Thank you," the half-Hydromancer woman struggled to say.

"Don't," she replied as she helped Anya off the cyber-ninja's shoulders. "I'm just taking you from the frying pan and throwing you into the fire. If you think _strappado_ sucked, you're in for a big shock at what Quan Chi's going to do to you to free Onaga's army."

"What is he planning to do to her?" Smoke asked, now feeling protective of his charge once more. He wish he'd quit flopping back and forth. The contradiction between emotion and emotionlessness made his head hurt.

"Something awful," she grinned. "So if you're gonna make a break for it, Sweet Cheeks-" Sareena clapped the cyber-ninja on the buttocks now, making a hollow sound with the flat of her palm "-I'd do it soon."

"You are attempting to trick us into fleeing." Smoke carefully gripped Anya's waist to help her remain upright. Her arms were, not surprisingly, gruesomely twisted in unnatural positions she couldn't recover from on her own. "It will not work."

"Hardly," she scoffed. "Fix her."

"No," he stated.

"Why not?" Sareena and Anya asked at the same time, though the latter's voice was faint, tired, and strained.

Smoke turned his attention to Anya. "You have suffered a posterior dislocation in both shoulders. The only way to fix the injuries is to create an incision and reposition the joints. I do not recommend this outside a sterile environment. "

"Just do it," the demoness hissed. "She'll be fine."

"Without anesthetic, I anticipate her pain levels will threaten her heart."

"I'm shocked at you, Smoke. Trying to ease your prisoner's pain? I've never seen a man act like that before. Then again, you aren't a man anymore, are you?"

"It-"

"Enough," Anya barked. "Sareena's right. I'll be fine."

Smoke said nothing. He was not going to argue with her, though his on-board tools and weapons were not meant for the delicate work of a surgeon. A small circular saw only three inches in diameter slowly protruded from the palm where his kunai blade was stored. Anya's eyes widened in fear and she took a step back, but Sareena immediately gleaned her intentions so she grabbed her and stopped her. Then she whirled her around as if to hug her and gripped her tightly around the waist with a devious grin.

"Hold still, _Princess_," she sneered as Anya resisted. "You wouldn't want him to slip, now would you?"


	28. At the Hour of Death

Sub-Zero closed his eyes as he braced for the inevitable.

"Mark!" Rain screamed at the archers. Immediately, he heard the catgut strings' familiar twang as the Tarkatans released their arrows. He sucked down a breath as he wondered not only how painful his death would be, but if he'd done enough to redeem his soul in the eyes of the universe. Some nagging fear told him he hadn't.

But nothing happened.

He reopened his eyes to another black spot in his vision, and he quickly ascertained that it had nothing to do with the cobalt rapidly leeching his chi away. On the other side of it, Rain and the archers bore puzzled expressions on their faces as they too stared at the spot, a dark wormhole barely larger than a fully grown man. Kuai Liang suddenly realized it was a portal, and like the maw of a giant python, it had swallowed the arrows in a single gulp. He glanced at Kabal in surprise as the hair on his neck stood on end. He'd felt that primal fear before when Scorpion attacked him in the Forbidden Forest, but this time the feeling was worse and this portal, which had already collapsed, did not belong to the undead ninja.

Then Sub-Zero caught sight of movement in his peripheral vision, a black blur running so fast that he barely registered it in his sight. A split second later, Tarkatan archers flew through the air like ragdolls while an oily shadow raced through their midst and tossed them over its head. _That's Saibot_, he thought to himself, surprised. _That means somewhere close by_…As if he'd suddenly sprang fully formed from nothingness, Noob stood immediately before the condemned – startling the Cryomancer with his unexpected apparition – with his back turned to them and his arms crossed. Kuai Liang thought he could actually _hear_ the derision for Rain and the others screaming from his body language.

Rain automatically held up his hand to stop his other Tarkatan and Zaterran warriors from attacking. "What is the meaning of this, Wraith?" he snarled as Saibot rejoined and melted into Noob's body like a dark stain.

"Quan Chi wants these two men alive," he replied, his inhuman voice divided into many.

_Well, that's unexpected_, Sub-Zero thought. He glanced over at Kabal once again, and behind faintly tinted goggles the detective's bewildered eyes begged for an explanation. The Cryomancer had none to give.

On the other side of the gap, the Edenian prince stiffened considerably. "Well, Quan Chi isn't here right now," the demigod argued, his arms now crossed as well. "He has no say in how I choose to deal with my prisoners."

"He's not here," Noob retorted, "but _I_ am. And I _will _stop you."

Rain guffawed at that, which prompted all his men to follow suit. "You? Against everyone here? I've heard your skills are legendary, Wraith, but I seriously doubt even you could defeat an entire company."

_Just try it,_ Kuai Liang inwardly dared the demigod. His brother might lose the battle in the end, but not before he'd wiped out a significant number of their ranks first. And if anyone could teach Rain a lesson in humility, it was Bi-han.

"You _will_ obey," Noob hissed dangerously. To his younger brother's ears, his voice sounded like a diamondback indicating its readiness to strike by shaking its rattle ferociously. The Cryomancer almost pitied Rain, who remained oblivious to his peril. He prayed, beseeching Fate as a sort of last request before the cobalt finished him off completely, that his brother would dispatch the demi-god in front of him. Kuai Liang wanted to be the one to rip him apart with his bare hands, but watching Bi-han do it, especially now that he was a demon with no conscience to hold him back, was the next best thing. He couldn't contain the weak smirk that now played on his lips.

The Prince narrowed his lavender eyes. "And if I decide to kill you alongside my prisoners?"

"Quan Chi thought you might say that," the undead warrior told him. "He told me to tell you that should you attempt it, not only would he kill your trophy woman, he'd see to it that you were stripped of all of your titles before he personally dipped you in the acid pool one body part at a time. Then he'd take your soul and send it to rape your mother through every open orifice on her body. But that would only happen _after _I had some fun with you first."

Rain's face flushed red with something between anger and humiliation, but evidently he believed the threat because his scowl quickly reverted to a terse grin. "Very well," he conceded. "If it means that much to him, he can have them. But _you're_ going to be their wet nurse, Wraith. I don't have time to baby-sit."

While the Edenian prince turned and commanded his men to get ready to leave, Noob turned around to face the Earthrealm warriors, scanning his younger brother up and down. Sapphire blue eyes connected with his rheumy white ones, but the wraith remained expressionless. Even now, as Kuai Liang gazed into the ghastly cataracts of a dead man, he couldn't stop seeing his brother, his _real _brother, before him. The Cryomancer felt embarrassed then, imagining he'd let Bi-han down yet again by being captured and condemned, and he squirmed weakly to get free just to try to end the humiliation.

But Noob narrowed his eyes and wrinkled his death-black nose behind his facemask. "Stay _down_, Kuai Liang," he growled.

Sub-Zero looked at him now in confused surprise. That had been a code between the brothers when Bi-han was still alive. Because An Zhi was never much for positive reinforcement or encouraging words, it had been the older Cryomancer's secret way of telling Kuai Liang to never give up hope and to never stop fighting. Now, it renewed him as it did when they were children.

At the thought, Kuai Liang felt his heart wrench and his face soften. He hadn't realized until then exactly how much he'd missed his big brother's companionship, and how much he still needed him for comfort and guidance. He knew the older Cryomancer's death had forced him to grow up and be strong on his own, and that had been the best thing for him because it led him to Anya, new friends, and a new life that actually brought him happiness, but now that he truly was a man, he wanted Bi-han back.

He started to say something but Noob interrupted him. "Take the collar off this one," he barked at Reptile.

The Zaterran moved to obey Noob's command, but Rain promptly stopped him. "No," he argued. He clinched his fists. "I'm afraid the collar is non-negotiable."

"It's killing him," the demonic entity growled. "Quan Chi will be very displeased if he dies prematurely." In truth, Sub-Zero wasn't convinced the sorcerer would be too broken up about it if he did; one way or another, his death would benefit him somehow. But he didn't argue with his brother. The longer he continued to live, the more chances he had to escape and save Anya.

"If I take it off," the Edenian countered, "he'll get his powers back."

Noob nodded towards Kabal. "Then why does this one not have a collar as well?"

"Because his abilities aren't powers," Rain explained. "Shang Tsung merely mutated his body's ability to heal itself. But he inadvertently caused other things to evolve as well, namely his natural speed. Therefore, cobalt won't affect him."

"Darn, and cobalt really makes my green eyes pop," Kabal muttered.

"Be quiet, you fool," Rain hissed.

"It's severely affecting my br…affecting the prisoner," Noob began but quickly amended, ignoring them both. Kuai Liang blinked at that. He'd almost said 'brother.' _Interesting_, he mused. So a part of him _did _still think of him as his brother, in spite of what he'd said the last time he'd seen him. More hope flowed through the weakened Cryomancer, even when he heard the wraith's next unnerving statement: "I can see death lingering around him. So take it off. _Now_."

"No," the demigod argued. "We can discuss this with Quan Chi when we return, but until I hear the sorcerer swear that he can control the Cryomancer, I'm not yielding on this issue."

"We will indeed discuss this with him."

"Then shall we go? We've dawdled around these ruins long enough, wouldn't you say?"

Noob grunted as Rain motioned for his men to organize and return to the main contingent. Then Kuai Liang met his gaze again. "Thank you," he mumbled.

"Don't thank me," he growled. "I am merely here because Quan Chi commanded it."

A brief, stabbing pain flashed through Sub-Zero's heart, but he said nothing as his head slumped forward slightly. But Noob didn't seem to notice and instead wordlessly nodded at Ermac to bring the two prisoners along.

* * *

Two hours later, the massive caravan had abandoned the desert ruins and marched towards a petrified forest in a seismically active mountain chain. In the distance, angry black volcanoes spewed out geysers of orange lava. Kuai Liang felt half-dead as he trudged through ashy plains, even though Quan Chi, when Noob and Rain brought the matter of the cobalt collar to him, found a compromise that gave him some relief; the sorcerer allowed Noob to remove the collar, but to appease Rain he agreed that the cuffs had to remain. Then, to further subdue the Cryomancer, they attached his cuffs to the back of a supply wagon with a red ethereal cord and dragged him along as they journeyed. Kuai Liang, who could barely walk, and in fact had already fallen so many times that it was easier for the cop just to support him like a crutch, almost wished for death. The only thing that had kept him alive so far was the knowledge that if he didn't, he'd condemn Anya to a life of torment with Rain.

"I'd hate to see what you'd be like drunk," Kabal, who had been bound in a similar fashion, wheezed as the Cryomancer's knees collapsed. Both men dropped halfway to the ground, but the cop braced himself and stopped their fall before quickly hoisting them up once more. Even with his added support, it was still extraordinarily difficult to balance without the use of their hands, and he seemed deathly exhausted as well. "Then again, you might be more fun to go on play-dates with if you made Jim, Jack, and Jose's acquaintance first." His voice abruptly took on a Hispanic accent. "I don't always choose to party with the Three Amigos, but when I do, I'm not such a dick to the people around me."

"Keep moving," a Zaterran warrior hissed behind them as Kuai Liang sighed at the joke, which, save for the insult tacked onto the end, went completely over his head. Their reptilian warden and his partner promptly thrust their spears into the men's backs. Quan Chi had officially released Noob from babysitting duty and had replaced him with the reptilian guards, and they had not given their prisoners an ounce of mercy. Sub-Zero's back already felt raw from being poked so much, but he pretended the quick jab hadn't hurt in the slightest.

Kabal, on the other hand, couldn't help himself. "Fuck you," he snapped, earning him a blow across the back of his legs from the spear's haft. He stumbled, causing Kuai Liang to fall on all fours in the ashy dirt. Now it was the Cryomancer's turn to get hit; with a snake-like hiss, both Zaterrans struck him across his shoulder blades. He winced and groaned as dull fire spread through his back. Kabal, who'd already recovered from his punishment, quickly yanked his partner to his feet before they both got hit again.

"I miss Ermac," the detective muttered unhappily. "I could use a lift. My feet are killing me."

"Be grateful we're even alive," the Grandmaster replied tiredly. The pain in his back slowly washed away. He barely noticed how black ash and pumice now fell like snow from the sky, gradually collecting in dark blankets on the sand.

"No doubt. I owe your brother a giant fruit basket. Remind me to send him one when we get home."

"_If _we get home."

"Oh, we will. They won't kill the Lone Ranger and Tonto." Kabal paused. "You're Tonto, by the way," he added a moment later.

"For once, I agree with you," Kuai Liang said. He knew that 'tonto' was Spanish for 'dummy,' and while it ordinarily would've insulted him, right now it was accurate. Perhaps he _should've_ told his teammates what he was up to. At least then they'd know both men were in trouble, and come looking for them. He closed his eyes and prayed for help as he trudged through drifts of volcanic ash like he was walking through pudding. "They're going to kill us," he told Kabal bluntly.

"No, they're not," the other argued. "I told you, the Lone Ranger and Tonto can't die."

"They _will_," he insisted. "And it probably won't be a quick death, either."

"Well, aren't you a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day."

"The only question is why they haven't done it yet. I want to know what Quan Chi's up to." His head swam through lead suddenly, forcing him to involuntarily lean it on his partner's shoulder to keep from fainting.

"Mischief and mayhem," his partner said flatly as the Cryomancer's body sagged towards the ground again. "The usual. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth." He threaded his elbow beneath Sub-Zero's armpit to better support his weight. Thankfully, he was a couple of inches shorter, so he didn't have to strain himself as much to keep the other upright.

The two men walked in silence after that for several miles before Kuai Liang spoke again. "Thank you for helping me," he mumbled.

"Shit," Kabal answered quietly so as not to attract the Zaterrans' attention. "You know I'm hopelessly addicted to rescuing the damsel in distress. It's a sickness, really."

Sub-Zero didn't even try to suppress the soft chuckle that escaped him. "You remind me a lot of Smoke," he replied. "Before he was automated. He was a world class smart-ass too."

The detective grunted and wheezed as they staggered forward. After a long pause, he said, "Damn it, I don't have any comeback for that."

"You're falling down on the job, Kabal. _Smoke _wouldn't have let that one go by without something obnoxious to say," he chided. Then he gazed thoughtfully at the volcanoes in the distance. Hot lava streamed down their black silhouettes in brilliant orange rivers while a blanket of smoke stretched and expanded towards the sky. "I wish I could've saved him."

"This sounds suspiciously like the start of a deathbed confession, and I'm not going to listen to it if it is," the other declared firmly. "We're _not _going to die."

Sub-Zero chortled. "Of course we are. We all are. It's just a matter of _when_."

"Okay, Captain Semantic, we're not going to die now, or in the next few days, or even in the next few years. And my hand to God, we're sure as _hell _not gonna die in Outworld."

"How can you be sure?"

Kabal tightened his grip on Kuai Liang's bicep. "Because we just don't have the time for it, Special K. We have to plot a daring escape, save the damsels-and-kid-in-distress, and thwart Quan Chi's plan to resurrect this ancient, evil army. Our calendar is booked solid, my friend."

He thought about it and then looked at the Cryomancer. "And if you're still not sure, then consider how that beautiful girl who loves you enough to use herself as bait just to save your mother is counting on you to live. She would be devastated if you let yourself get killed now. Hell, knowing her, she'd probably be royally pissed off at you if she knew you were even thinking this way. In fact, I know exactly what she'd say. She'd tell you to get over your damn pity party already and man up. And she'd be right. This is _not_ becoming of the tough guy who got a knife wound to the gut and a flail chest in the same day, but still insisted on fighting Shao Kahn regardless."

Kuai Liang smiled wistfully. "You're right."

"Of course I'm right!"

"I miss her."

Kabal coughed on the thickening smoke. "Of course you do. Who wouldn't? She really is a hottie. Ornery. Fun. And super-smart. Unless you count her decision to hook up with you, which I think is either the product of PTSD or brain damage. Did she get hit in the head that day we all first met her?" He paused as if to seriously think about the answer. "Actually, I think she settled for you because I intimidated her with my all-around awesomeness. She should've known better. I would've snatched that girl up in a second."

Sub-Zero scowled, feeling the rage well up inside of him. "You just can't help yourself, can you? You just had to go there." He walked a little straighter now.

"Duh. I can actually get away with it now. The polar bear lost all his teeth." Kabal playfully nudged him when he glanced at his partner and saw the storm clouds erupting on his face. "Would you lighten up, already, Frosty? I'm just playing with you. You're so damn touchy. Goddamn emo bastard."

"What the hell does _that_ mean?" He had never heard that word before, but it didn't matter. It didn't sound like a positive thing. And even if it was, it didn't quell his homicidal urges.

"Angsty. Dark. Gloomy. Pissy."

"I'm not like that," he argued indignantly.

Kabal scoffed. "Please," he said. "You're one step away from painting your nails black, wearing skinny jeans, and writing bad poetry."

Kuai Liang frowned in confusion. "Whatever," he growled in annoyance. He still didn't understand what his partner was talking about. "I just don't like other men talking about her the way you do."

"Yeah? Well, you need to stop being an insecure, green-eyed rage monkey and get over it already. Do you really think I'd try to mess with one of my friends like that? And do you really think she has such a weak-willed, wimpy mind that I could convince her to ditch you, so _clearly _the love of her life, so easily? Give us both a little more credit." The cop chuckled lightly again. "She is great though, in all sincerity."

"Yeah, she is," he agreed softly, still bristling with annoyance but feeling much more rational than jealous now.

"Still shocked you haven't married her yet."

"I'm working on it," he snapped, thinking of the way he threw his mother's claddagh wedding ring across his room at the Lin Kuei temple, and he cringed at the thought of calling Anya a 'bitch.' He'd been angry, sure, but what woman really wanted to marry a guy who talked like that to her? Even if she _did _get her memory back, he was almost certain he'd blown it forever with her. He stumbled.

"You're lucky. I don't think you always know just how lucky. I mean, that asshole Rain is making it his mission in life to destroy you, and just so he can get her to forget about you so he can have her to himself."

"Don't remind me." At the rate Kuai Liang was going, he was certain Rain would have his way within the next day, two at the most.

"Yeah, but did you notice it's not working?" he pointed out. "Slowly but surely, she's remembering you, in spite of Quan Chi's best efforts, and it seems like she's giving them all a huge headache as a result. And it sounds like she's endured a lot of crap for it."

Sub-Zero looked at his partner, masking the sudden guilt. He almost wished she _didn't _remember him at all, even little glimpses, because Rain had hurt her for it. "I know," he said softly.

"If it makes you feel better," Kabal said as if he could tell what the Grandmaster was thinking, "I think she's giving him more hell than he's giving her."

"I don't know if I agree with that."

The cop scoffed. "Please. He dressed her up like _that_ and she won't put out? No wonder he put her with the other prisoners. He had to, just as a defense mechanism."

The Cryomancer frowned, though this time it stemmed more from confusion than jealous annoyance. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Please, how would _you _feel if she wore that dress around the temple, and then when you tried to put a move on her, she told you no, she had a headache."

Kuai Liang wrinkled his nose as his gut slightly hurt at the thought. The strategically placed holes and sheer fabric seemed specifically designed to arouse anyone who looked at her. He hummed and shrugged his acknowledgement.

"Yeah, now imagine going through that same song and dance for two weeks straight, or however the hell long she's been his prisoner."

Pain suddenly spread through his gut and groin. Just the thought was torture. "Okay, you have a point," he cringed, but he felt no pity for the demigod. "Still, I don't like that slug hurting her. I want to freeze him slowly, dragging it out as long as possible just so he feels every cell in his body rupture from frostbite."

"I'd be pissed off if you felt anything else. And don't worry about her. Hell, she'll probably be the one who winds up saving _our _asses."

He chuckled at the thought as Kuai Liang merely smiled. Talking about her somehow dulled the effects of the cobalt because he felt stronger now.

"She wore another dress this one time to go to this fancy fundraising event for her hospital," he mused. "Not long after I was released from the Army hospital. She dragged me along. I was so out of place, but the way she looked made it worth it." He thought about it. "It wasn't nearly as revealing as the one they've got her in now, but it was nicer…no, that's not the right word." He frowned, trying to think of the idea he was trying to convey. "Prettier. No, that's not it either."

"Sexier?" Kabal offered.

"Exactly," he said, simultaneously relieved and annoyed by the man's help.

"What'd it look like?"

"I don't know, a dress," he replied. "It had these thin straps and it was red."

"Oh, well that's why," Kabal told him.

"What are you talking about?"

"Red is every man's kryptonite. Our _red_ kryptonite if you want to get technical."

"You keep saying that word, and yet I still have no clue what you mean."

"It's our weakness," he explained. "It makes us crazy. We lose our damn minds when we see a pretty girl like Anya in it. Like a bull in a bullfight. Not only will we fight any dude who looks at her cross-eyed, we won't be able to think of anything but getting the red off of her."

"I _did_ wind up freezing her pager that night," he admitted.

Kabal burst out laughing. "You froze her pager?"

"Well, it deserved it. It pissed me off. She had gotten bored at that party because it was all of her dad's friends and almost none of hers. So she pulled me aside to this broom closet and was getting…friendly…with me. And then the stupid thing started beeping. So I froze it."

"Hey, I can't blame you."

"It turned out that one of her usual patients was having a psychotic episode or something and wouldn't calm down unless he talked to her. So she had to leave. At least I gave that pager a quick and painless death. I spent the whole night in a cold shower after that, and I _still _wound up walking funny the next day."

"Like I said, it's our kryptonite," Kabal laughed. "No wonder you miss her. I miss my sister. I haven't seen her in a long time, and we used to be really close. But I have faith we're gonna get them all back. Khadija's my twin, you know?"

"I didn't know you had a twin."

"Yeah, I do, but I'm the pretty one. Don't tell her I said that, though."

"She's not like _my_ sister, is she?" Kuai Liang half-joked.

The detective shook his head. "If anything, she's the exact opposite. But that's because of my dad. He was from Iran. He was pretty strict with both of us, but especially with Khadija. I used to think, 'God help her if she ever came home pregnant.' I'm pretty sure my dad would've been one of those guys you occasionally hear about on the news who stoned his daughter to death if she showed a millimeter of skin above her sock. Of course, she was always smarter than me, so she _never_ stepped out of line. Khadija is a walking, talking angel. She doesn't act wild, she doesn't drink or do drugs, she doesn't dress indecently. She doesn't even speak unless spoken to. She could never do any wrong." His voice was decidedly flippant now. "My dad had her trained well. Not me though. Obviously."

"I'm shocked," Kuai Liang said drily. "I just can't believe you were a disobedient child."

"You would have been too. Khadija was just too afraid of our dad to run away like I did."

The Cryomancer now felt a swell of genuine shock when he heard his partner's reply. He never would've guessed in a hundred years that Kabal would've had a childhood that mirrored his own. The cop was defiant like Bi-han and had, by his own admission, run away. In a way, that's what the older Cryomancer had done when he'd died. Meanwhile, Khadija, littler and bullied by her father in a different way than her brother, resembled Kuai Liang. A household like theirs had to have been abusive, emotionally if not physically, so it was no wonder that she lived in such abject terror of her dad that she didn't dare make a move without his permission. Her existence, according to her brother, sounded decidedly and painfully familiar. The Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei inwardly cringed when he suddenly thought of the terrifying expression An Zhi always bore when he looked at his youngest son. It wasn't just disappointment in him for his many childhood weaknesses. It was hatred as well.

But like a soothing balm, memories of Anya choked out the ones of his father beating him, and he thought about her in contrast to Kabal's description of his sister, almost belly-laughing in response. But, he knew that she'd be okay with that because she'd be laughing even harder. Just the thought of 'training' her was hilarious. She valued her opinion too much to stifle it like Khadija probably had. She was obnoxious, outspoken, temperamental, and defiant. And it was this feistiness that first attracted him, and continued to attract him, to her. To know that Rain was consciously trying to stamp out her inner fire infuriated Kuai Liang. He didn't _want _her spirit broken. It was what made Anya _Anya_.

"Hey, Yukon Cornelius," Kabal broke through Sub-Zero's thoughts, "you ever thought about what it'd be like to have kids? I mean kids of your own, not a bunch of orphans you've adopted for training?"

"Occasionally, I suppose."

"I do. All the time. I think I want to be a laid-back kind of dad."

"That's a stupid idea," he bluntly replied. "You're just asking for kids straight out of _The Lord of the Flies_."

"Yeah, but I don't want to be a tyrant who makes his kids hate him so much that his son runs away from home and eventually joins an organized crime syndicate as a gun smuggler."

"Bi-han hated our father too," Kuai Liang mumbled. "He was mutinous to a fault. Not me. I wish I had been. He was fearless. Any chance he got to rebel, he took it. Right down to his code name."

"What do you mean?"

"We had an ancestor named 'Sub-Zero' who was a traitor to the clan. He killed a bunch of Lin Kuei, including the Grandmaster. It's always been a source of grave shame for my family. So Bi-han was called to test when he was eighteen and I was eleven. He stood before the Grandmaster, several of the Elders, and most importantly my father, and says, 'I am Bi-han, son of An Zhi.'" The Cryomancer paused to take several ragged breaths. It was harder now not only because the cobalt cuffs weakened him and therefore easily winded him, but also because the volcanic ash fell thicker from the sky and choked out the air. He coughed, then resumed his tale. "Now, customarily, we were expected to ask permission to test. Not Bi-han. He looked Grandmaster Oniro directly in the eyes and said, "I ask _no one_ for permission." I thought_ that_ was going to come back to bite him in the ass, but he just had to top himself. Amazingly, he passed the test and they asked him what he wanted to be called. He said, 'I am now called Sub-Zero, to honor my ancestor.'"

"Wow. That took some serious _cojones_."

"That might be the understatement of the year," Kuai Liang said quietly. "Our father beat Bi-han half to death for his insolence. But that was the day I truly realized how…cool…my brother was. I wish I told him that just once. And I wish I told him how proud I was of him for standing up for what he believed him, even though at the time, I didn't understand it. Maybe it would've made a difference." Kuai Liang trailed off sadly. "So, to answer your question about what kind of father I'd be, the last thing I want is to be just like An Zhi or even _your_ father."

"Especially towards your daughter."

The Cryomancer looked at him in confusion. "My daughter?"

"If you have one, you're not gonna stone her the first time she steps out of line."

He blinked in surprise. "No, of course not."

"That's good to know," the other said. "You know, when I think of any little girls I might have, I panic at the thought of the boys who'd line up to see her. And then I hope I _never _have a daughter."

"I didn't even _think_ of that." Kuai Liang thought about it now, and a new annoyance gripped him. How dare any boys look at his hypothetical daughter like that? He vaguely imagined a female carbon copy of her mother, the most gorgeous child that ever walked the earth, being chased around the temple by her male classmates. He suddenly found himself inwardly panicking.

"We can't have our little girls running around with boys like us, huh, Snow White?"

Kuai Liang inhaled deeply, fretting at the notion. He was flinching before he got hit, he knew, and he had to stop. So he calmly said, "I think you're getting ahead of yourself, Kabal. Gotta get married to someone first, right?"

He vaguely saw the other roll his eyes behind his goggles. "Gee, I _wonder _who that could be. I mean, I guess you could skip all that formality and just go straight to the baby-making, which could be fun too, but you should never deprive a woman a proper wedding."

Kuai Liang coughed to clear his throat. "Moving on…" he trailed off uncomfortably.

"What?" the other asked indignantly.

"You sound like a woman. You _always _sound like a woman. Why is that?"

"Because we have a however long trek ahead of us, and these are the things that are popping into my head to talk about."

"You don't have to fill every waking moment with idle talk. You chatter more than a capuchin monkey." The Cryomancer gave him a pointed look.

Kabal shook his head. "It's how I roll," he shrugged. "Okay, so what do you want? A son or a daughter?"

"I don't care either way," he replied, staggering again, slightly annoyed that the man wouldn't be quiet. He slumped, forcing his partner to lift him up yet again. He grunted in frustration at Kabal continuing this hen-talk as well as for being so weak he depended on the man to help him walk.

"Even knowing you're gonna have to invest in a shotgun if you have a girl?"

The Cryomancer thought about it. "Okay, a son then. Let his girlfriend's parents be the ones to worry." And then he suddenly remembered Anya's father, the esteemed Dr. Anderson, and how much the man disliked him. Now he vaguely understood why the man felt that way. "I suddenly have the urge to visit Anya's father and apologize for being in love with his daughter."

The detective snickered at that. "I'm sure it's okay, Snowman. It's enough you've apologized to _her_."

"Real funny, Kabal," he replied defensively.

"If you wind up having kids with her, would you tell her that? About wanting a son?"

Now it was the Cryomancer's turn to chuckle. He looked at his partner. "Hell no," he said. "I'm sticking with the 'it doesn't matter either way' story. I'm not itching to die just yet."

"You think she'd be ticked off about you wanting a son?"

"I think she'd be ticked off for the reason behind it."

"So, I'm really intrigued by Alcatraz," the other abruptly switched subjects. At first, it sounded so random that it confused the Cryomancer. But then he realized his partner was speaking in code in front of their Zaterran guards, especially when he said, "What do _you _think about it?"

Kuai Liang knew his partner wanted to know if he'd hatched an escape plan yet. "I don't think anything of it," he replied, telling him 'no' in code as well.

"I wonder what became of those guys."…_How do we take out Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum?_

"I think they drowned. They just didn't have strong enough legs to swim that far. I bet I could, though. Well, maybe not now. I'm not feeling well enough to walk, let alone swim. But I _know _you could."…_One of us, probably you though, should launch some kind of kick attack against them when we get a chance. _

"That's for sure. Anya's told me one time that she thinks my legs are nicer than yours."…_Good idea. I'll do what I can. _Of course, Kuai Liang couldn't help but scowl once more. He mustered the strength to plow a shoulder into Kabal's arm, knocking him slightly off balance. "Hey!" the cop yelped as he struggled not to fall to the ground. "I'm just joking."

"I'm not," he growled back, feeling fog waft from his hands.

"Obviously. I thought you were gonna quit going caveman on me when it came to her."

"You thought wrong," he said. "I still don't like your smart remarks."

He cleared his throat. "Anyway, I think we should visit San Francisco sometime just so we can take a tour."…_Maybe when this army stops to rest, an opportunity will present itself._

"If you say so."…_I agree_.

* * *

When the army arrived in a small ravine several hours later, the prisoners were immediately dragged to a massive stone pit at the base of a nearby cliff. Sub-Zero and Kabal's Zaterran wardens hit the back of their knees with their spears to force them to collapse in the middle of the floor as if in prayer, then pointed the tips of the spears at their necks. Kuai Liang, who although felt better than he had with the cobalt collar clamped around his neck, still felt as weak as a newborn kitten and was grateful for a chance to rest, even though he grunted and glared to the contrary.

He glanced around tiredly. They'd been brought to some sort of antiquated dungeon carved into the black rock where various torture devices had been strategically placed around the room, and several other prisoners were chained to the walls. Sub-Zero identified Edenians, Tarkatans, Zaterrans, and even a Shokan and a Centaur. But the only prisoners he saw that he cared for were guarded by Smoke and locked up in four separate cages barely bigger than them, all of which were shoved in a row against a solid rock wall. The whole thing resembled a dog kennel.

"Khadija!" Kabal screamed, prompting one of the women to jump and the guards to hit him in the back of his head. Startled, she hit her head on the flat iron ceiling, then looked through the iron bars spaced about two inches apart.

"Silence!" one of the reptilian men snapped.

Exotic, sea-foam green eyes stared back in confusion. "Who are you?" she asked.

The detective looked taken aback. "It's me, Kadeem. Your brother. Your _twin _brother."

"I'm sorry, I don't remember you," she said shyly as she looked away quickly. "I don't think I have a brother."

"Khadija! Goddamn it, don't look away from me!" he yelled, earning him another blow across his head. This time, the spear haft split his scalp, and blood suddenly gushed through his long black hair. He collapsed to his belly, but while he tried to use his palm to apply pressure to the head wound, he tried to reach for the woman with his other. His cuffs stopped him and Sub-Zero felt sorry for him. He could empathize, having gone through a similar moment earlier that day. But Khadija ignored him, and covered her face with her hood.

Relief flooded Kuai Liang when he saw Anya's filthy purple cloak wrapped tightly around her body. Slumped awkwardly against the bars, she seemed to be sleeping with her hood up, and he couldn't see her pretty face, the only one he loved and wanted to kiss all over. Just the memory of it had kept him going this last day. He had to let her know he was there.

"Anya!" he yelled with equal, if not greater, vehemence as Kabal had yelled at his sister. He knew the guards would hit him too, but he didn't care when they predictably hit him across the shoulders again. But she wouldn't look at him. "Anya!" he yelled again in direct defiance of the guards' orders. His vision blurred when he heard the crack against his head before he felt it. He yelped and fell into the dirt too, his own head weeping blood.

"She won't wake up," the little boy in the cage to her immediate right, Sherman he assumed, said as he looked at the prisoners helplessly. The Grandmaster hadn't really noticed the child, who bore a striking resemblance to Nightwolf save for his much shorter hair, or Jade, until that moment. His teammate was in the cage immediately to Anya's left, and when she saw Kuai Liang look helplessly at her, she nodded wistfully.

"Nothing has worked to revive her," she reported in her even voice. Like Kitana's, it sounded much wiser that one would expect. "That _monster_," she glanced at Smoke with daggers in her eyes. "That _monster_ did something to her." At that, Sherman burst into tears but said nothing, prompting Khadija to reach through her cage to rub his shoulder to comfort him.

"What did you do to Anya?" the Cryomancer angrily demanded to know as he looked at his old friend. He wanted to murder the cyber-ninja where he stood, and felt his powers beg to be released. The sensation was downright painful, both physically and emotionally draining, but he refused to control it.

"And to my sister?" Kabal growled. Kuai Liang looked at him in surprise. He'd never seen the cop so serious and angry. There was none of his usual mirth or sarcasm in his voice.

"I think it would be prudent, Gentlemen, if perhaps you worried more about what I'm going to do to you," Quan Chi's voice echoed around them as a portal appeared and he walked through.

"Don't you threaten me," Kuai Liang hissed as he tried to lunge at the sorcerer in spite of his cuffs, only to be met by spears herding him backwards.

"My dear Sub-Zero, I thought you knew by now that I don't threaten anyone." He looked back and forth between the Earthrealm warriors. "Your precious Anya has already caught on to that, and all it took from me was a little…shall we say…negative reinforcement." He glanced at her cage with an amused smirk.

The Cryomancer narrowed his eyes and struggled against his cobalt cuffs. "What did you do to her?" he growled.

"She is a willful child, so I merely did to her what I would do to any willful child. I punished her. I introduced her to what you humans call _strappado_." He chuckled softly while Kuai Liang sucked down an enraged breath at the mental image of her being tortured.

"If it's the last thing I do, Quan Chi, I promise I'm going to cut you into a thousand pieces with a kori sword," he snarled.

"What's _strappado_?" Kabal asked uncertainly, as if he didn't really want to know.

"Torture," the other replied, shaking with fury for the sorcerer and worry for her. "One that's up there with crucifixion." As he thought of it, white fog wafted from his arms, though it had nowhere to go. The police officer shook his head and then glared through his dark goggles at the sorcerer.

Quan Chi sneered at them both. "Torture _is _its own reward," he said. "But don't fret, my friends. I understand that your old ally, Smoke, has successfully put all her bones back into place. And she'll think twice before trying to escape again." Now Kabal noticeably cringed while the chilly air roiled from Sub-Zero's skin in thick sheets. Quan Chi carefully folded his arms behind his back. "Speaking of torture, now I wish to talk about what humans like to call positive reinforcement." He nodded slightly towards someone behind the prisoners.

"Hello, Brother," they both heard Frost greet wickedly.

Kabal groaned and the Cryomancer sighed unhappily when he saw her. _God, anyone but her. Give me flies, give me locusts, give me boils and sores. Just anything but her._

"Not happy to see me, boys?" she chuckled in amusement at his silence. "Neither am I, really."

Sub-Zero thought of several different insults he could've hurled at her then, but he bit his tongue. He wasn't about to give that bitch the satisfaction. With a scowl, he fixed his eyes on the smooth rock floor just before his knees.

"Frost is a woman of simple desires," Quan Chi began. "She wants to watch you both suffer, but especially you, Sub-Zero. She has done my bidding well, so I am going to reward her. I wouldn't want her to lose interest in our humble operation, now would I?"

"I'm not interested in what she or you want," he retorted.

"Oh, I really think you are," she said dangerously as she glanced at Anya with an evil grin.


	29. Rats

**Author's Note: I just wanted to forewarn people that this chapter contains torture, so if you're squeamish about that kind of stuff, you might skip it altogether. I researched different torture methods just to write this chapter because I wanted to describe something very disturbing and relatively unheard of. This was the only one that actually made me squinch my face up and say, "Oh, my God!" Consider yourself warned. **

**And just because I'm so gosh-darn proud of myself for this, I earned my green sash in San Soo last Saturday. Oh, and as part of my test, I had to spar with a black belt in front of my school's Grandmaster as well as a huge crowd celebrating the Chinese New Year. Next stop, brown sash! **

* * *

Anya floated through a dim twilight vaguely aware of the dull ache in either shoulder. Sareena had forcibly restrained her as Smoke's whirring saw blade bit into her clavicle. She remembered the searing pain as well as the sound of her voice screeching helplessly while he worked, but she had withstood the trauma well until he thrust his robotic fingers through the wound and yanked on the first bone he touched. She'd blacked out immediately and hadn't been fully awake since then. She was content to drift, and she easily ignored the voices screaming for her to wake up.

But a new voice – one not shrill like the others before it, but one deep and sinister – jarred her brain from its apathy. It said, "I shall now leave you in Frost's capable hands." It was Quan Chi.

Cold terror chilled her blood, but it was not fear of the sorcerer. Rather, it was that name – Frost – that set her skin into goosebumps. In the darkest recesses of her mind, Anya saw nothing but red attached to Frost – the red of the truck, the red of her blood as it formed a halo around her head on the pavement – as if the entire world was colored in crimson. She…she _remembered _her. She'd forced her to crash and nearly killed her in the process.

Then, like dominoes falling up, her memory rewound itself further, and she stood in a kitchen as Frost dug a knife made of ice into another woman's throat. She strained to remember the older lady's name, but her mouth could only hum stupidly around the letter 'm.' Anya couldn't dwell on it long, though, as she immediately tumbled backwards through disjointed images of a massive temple built in an icy plain, and an apocalypse that nearly tore a city apart, and a hospital where the insane counted on her for comfort, and a different hospital where the staff fought to keep her alive when she didn't want to be, and then…her mother.

The woman stood against a black backdrop, smiling as her pale lavender eyes met her daughter's. A sharp twinge of pain stabbed at Anya's heart, prompting scalding tears to cascade down her cheeks. It was like looking in the mirror at a slant; their features were nearly identical, yet there was something infinitely more powerful about her mother, though she couldn't fathom what, and knew she'd never possess it for as long as she lived.

_You're stronger than you know_, her mother's voice echoed around her. _Be brave. Face her with your head held high. _

At the thought, Anya finally opened her soggy eyes, noting the way her road-dirty cloak obscured her face. Still, she recognized her prison, a cage with iron bars like a kennel.

"Oh, and Frost," Quan Chi continued as he walked past. "If you wish to be the Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei, you need the Dragon Medallion. You can take it one of two ways: it can choose you, or the Grandmaster himself can give it to a blood relative."

"What are you talking about?" Anya heard Kuai Liang ask in confusion. "That's not how-"

"It's just food for thought," the sorcerer said. She didn't need to see his face to know he was sneering. "And Frost?"

"Yes?" a feminine voice asked sweetly, though it set Anya's teeth on edge.

"You may do what you wish to those two until we leave again, but these four are off limits."

"Spoil sport," she pouted as he stomped away.

Anya waited until he vanished through his portal before she subtly peeked at Frost. The deadly warrior stood proudly before Sub-Zero and Kabal with her hands on her hips. She nodded at a man to her side. Anya recognized him immediately.

"Boys, you remember Drahmin, don't you?" Frost smiled and looked at the fleshless demon. "Tie them up, will you?" Then she glanced at Anya with a devious grin. "And will you get Little Miss Water Park as well? I don't want her to miss this."

"Quan Chi said she was not to be touched," Smoke said as Drahmin hoisted Kabal to his feet and attached his wrists to a black stone wall nearby, hanging him a foot off the floor.

"Stop being such a little girl and do something bad for once!" she yelped.

"Leave An-" Kuai Liang started to say, but Frost back-fisted him across the jaw and split his lip open in a new spot. A tiny river of blood gushed from his mouth as the demon tormentor now cuffed him to the wall as well.

"Shut up," she snapped at him before she pointed at Kabal. "And just so I don't have to say it again in a minute, you shut up too." Then she chuckled as Sub-Zero spit out a mouthful of blood.

Drahmin now approached Anya and easily flung open her cage. Panicking, she threw her palms at him with a terrified yelp, hoping to catch him with an errant jet of water. She did, but unlike earlier that evening when it had caught him by surprise, he now scarcely seemed to notice and easily gripped her by the scruff of her neck, simultaneously yanking off her cloak. She tried kicking him to no avail, but only succeeded in making her shoulders hurt like hell.

"I have a gift for you!" Frost sang as she skipped to them.

"You shouldn't have," Anya grunted as she squirmed to get free in spite of her discomfort, trying hard to dig her dirty fingernails into Drahmin's raw muscles.

"Oh, now don't be that way," the other admonished. "I know we haven't always been the best of friends, but I really _do_ think of you like a sister."

"Lucky me," she muttered. Drahmin's clubbed arm, the spiked metal weapon newly replaced, now wrapped itself around her slender body, holding her tightly. Tears sprang to her eyes as her shoulders protested the pressure and the spikes bit at her skin like thorns.

"So I wanted to give this to you as a peace offering." She slipped a bluish metal ring, something that looked a lot like a dog collar, from her similarly-colored tunic. Across the room, both Sub-Zero and Kabal started struggling in a mad frenzy when they saw it, yelling warnings, but Frost ignored them as she joyfully slipped it around Anya's throat. Immediately, the prisoner felt dizzy as a blackness briefly washed over her vision. She stopped fighting Drahmin, her head suddenly weighing a ton.

"And then we can take a trip to the wonderful, beautiful, serene Land…Not!" Frost giggled as she patted Anya's cheek and then motioned for the demon to chain her up as well. He silently carried her towards the wall and slammed her into it beside Sub-Zero. She tried to stifle the pained groans as he twisted her shoulders up in yet another awkward position, but couldn't.

"Anya?" Kuai Liang asked in concern. "Are you okay? Anya?"

"Of course I'm okay," she said drowsily, blinking back the tears. "Just feel a little drunk, that's all." She opened her eyes and looked at him with a shaky smile to hide her distress.

"Why are you covered in blood?" he demanded to know as he nodded at her shoulders. Smoke's impromptu incisions and stitches were clearly obscured from his vision.

"Why are you?" she shot back pointedly, nodding towards all the blood that splattered his face and clothes. Then she closed her eyes again and let her head sag against her arms. "I'm glad Rain didn't kill you two."

"Yeah, that makes three of us," Kabal mumbled as Frost stood before them, her brilliant blue eyes darting back and forth in curious amusement.

"Why are you people so afraid to die?" she asked as she stroked her chin thoughtfully.

"Who says we are?" Sub-Zero shot back, and she laughed.

Anya now glared at her. "Don't look into her eyes," she hissed weakly. "She'll steal your soul. I'll handle her. So, Frost, we haven't chatted in a while. How are things going down in the Underworld?"

"Oh, well, look how brave you are!" she exclaimed. "You really do fight with your heart, don't you, sweetie? That seems to give me an advantage over you as I no longer seem to have one. I wonder if you'll still act so tough when I do this." Instantly, she grabbed the prisoner's left shoulder and yanked down hard, almost to the point of dislocating it again, and giggled as her victim howled and Kuai Liang and Kabal both tried to lunge at her. "I didn't think so," she sneered.

"It'll pass," Anya croaked as the combined pain and sudden nausea gradually faded. She glanced weakly at Kuai Liang, who was still struggling to get free of his bonds.

"Definitely," Frost agreed. "When your heart stops." Then, without looking at Sub-Zero, she sighed impatiently and said, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're gonna kill me. Glory and hallelujah and all that crap."

"You are _not _allowed to harm her," Smoke repeated, his robotic voice more urgent now.

"Would you _please_ calm down already, you overgrown bucket of bolts?" she snapped. "I'm not going to harm her. I just want her to have a front row seat to see what I do to my big brother and his bestie."

Kabal snorted, prompting Sub-Zero to give him a wayward glance. "See, even your bitch of a sister knows that you are the wind beneath my wings."

With eyes closed, Anya weakly leaned her head against her arms and sighed at the remark. "God," she whimpered at the same time Kuai Liang hissed, "I want that to be the very last thing you say today."

"Quiet, all of you," Frost barked. "I want to talk about the Dragon Medallion with my Brother. You heard Quan Chi. You can give it to me. I don't suppose you'd just say yes now, would you? End this tiresome discussion before it starts? That's crazy, right?"

"I don't know where Quan Chi got an idea like that, but you can only get it one way. It has to pick you," he answered her.

"I see," she said slowly. "Okay, I assumed we'd have to do this the hard way. Sorry, Smokestack," she said to the cyber-ninja, "Little Princess is suddenly an eligible player again. Go tattle to Quan Chi if you want."

Anya's heart started pounding in her chest once more while Kuai Liang struggled even harder to get free of his bonds. "No! Leave her out of it. Dammit, Frost, I'm not playing games with you. I'm telling you the truth. The Medallion chooses you. You can't just take it, and you can't just have a blood relative will it to you. It _chooses_ you."

She grinned devilishly. "I might believe you, dear Brother, were Sektor not adamant he could take it from you. You two _did _grow up together in the Lin Kuei."

"He's an idiot!" he yelled. "He's dumber now than he was before he was automated. Besides which, I grew up with Smoke too." Sub-Zero looked over to the cyber-ninja. "Smoke, would you please tell her that is not how it passes from person to person?"

"I do not have sufficient data on that subject," he replied flatly.

Anya let out a long, shuddering sigh. She knew Tomas knew the correct answer, but those damned Slaving Protocols in his head restrained him from answering honestly. Beside her, she heard Kuai Liang mutter, "Of course you don't."

"You know, I understand Smoke was there when the Dragon Medallion came into your possession," Frost began. "Smoke, will you kindly tell the class how that happened?"

"Grandmaster Oniro and Sektor fought over it. It fell on the floor. He grabbed it and it became his," was the monotone answer.

"Interesting," the female Cryomancer chirped as her brother now dropped his head in defeat. She glanced at Drahmin. "Would my lovely assistant today kindly grab me a volunteer from the loser pool and strap him to that table?"

Drahmin grunted his reply, clearly unhappy at being referred to as Frost's assistant, but promptly grabbed one of the other prisoners chained to the wall, a dumpy little creature with a glowing orange jewel embedded in his blubbery chest. As he fastened the struggling, wailing man to a wide, rusty table in the middle of the room, she wandered to a small cage where dark creatures squirmed behind a mesh door. She opened it and yanked out one of the animals by its neck. It was a rat.

With her usual evil smirk, she cradled the fat brown rat in her arms like a miniature dog, kissing its muzzle and patting its head like it was her faithful pet. It kicked its legs as if it was swimming, but she held fast and watched intently for her prisoners' reactions. "A misunderstood creature, the rat," she said dangerously. "They get a bad rap because they'll eat anything, and they carry the most horrendous diseases."

"I would definitely agree with that, Frost," Kabal said. "That one seems to be tolerating you fairly well."

"Well, unlike my present company," she continued, her smile unwavering, "they're very smart. They solve puzzles. Which makes them terribly interesting to watch. Observe."

The white-haired woman carried the rat to the disgusting man strapped to the table. He must've known what was coming because he took one look at the creature and started to cry as he ferociously fought his bonds. His wails did not move Frost, and she gently set the rat onto his belly just as Drahmin covered it with a metal tub seemingly forged just for that purpose. Then, the demon inexplicably spread a large stack of burning coals over the top.

"Anya, don't watch," Sub-Zero ordered her, but she couldn't pry her eyes away.

"What's she doing to him?" she replied softly, her breaths coming in short pants that were a blend of horror and disgust. "Kuai Liang, what's she going to do?"

"Don't look at him, look at me," he said more urgently. "Dammit, Anya! I mean it!"

But she ignored him, albeit involuntarily. Curiosity compelled her eyes to remain focused on Frost's latest victim. Underneath the metal tub, the rat loudly scratched at the sides. She could almost _feel _its terror at the growing, inescapable heat, her heart thumping wildly in time with its own. Meanwhile, the victim's voice rapidly spiraled upward from a low cry to a shrill whimper to an ear-piercing shriek. Empathy for him and the rat flooded her, and Anya soon felt her own hot tears stream down her face as she heard herself scream at Frost to stop. The rat's heartbeat as well as her own thundered in her ears faster and faster, louder and louder. Her cries and the victim's shrieking reached a deafening crescendo. She couldn't stand the noise and strained to get free to put an end to it all.

And then there was silence.

It came unexpectedly. The rat's heartbeat calmed, and the man on the table stopped wailing. Instead, he stiffened as his eyes bulged from his head in surprise. His sweaty neck pulsed and flexed into his fleshy face as if he were trying to vomit. Then, sudden realization flooded him and he started to screech more frantically now, flailing his body every which way his bonds would let him. Viscous, yellowish fluid, his blood perhaps, began oozing from his mouth and nostrils. About a minute later, the rat, soggy with bodily fluids but otherwise unscathed, suddenly bolted from a spot in between his legs, and from her vantage point Anya thought that spot was his anus. The man, unlike the rat, was dead.

Frost clapped giddily as Anya looked away and sobbed into her arms. "That has to be some kind of a record!" the female Cryomancer exclaimed. "I've _never _seen a rat move so fast through the intestinal tract in my life!" Drahmin hoisted the red-hot tub off the victim's belly, allowing her to peer at the small, uneven perforation where the rat gnawed through his stomach and found its way through his digestive system. "I think these disgusting, little blobs must be physiologically different than us. I mean, radically so," she said pensively.

"Anya," Kuai Liang said to her, ignoring his sister, "look at me."

"No," she whimpered almost inaudibly as she shook her head. She felt sick, and was half certain she was going to throw up. She squeezed her eyes shut, forcing her stomach to stay down.

"Please look at me."

She shook her head again. She already hurt too much inside. She didn't think she could bear it if she looked into his eyes right now. But that didn't concern Frost, who was now skipping to her yet again.

"Aw, that empathetic side of you is a real problem, isn't it, Princess?"

"At least it proves I have a spark of humanity in me," she shot back, shaking in fear.

"Humanity is overrated."

"You're such a bitch," Kabal spat from beside Sub-Zero.

"No, I'm a witch. A _majo_. Get it right, handsome." Frost chuckled and looked at her brother. "I'm guessing by her reaction that I just popped her torture cherry. I mean, I know Quan Chi strung her up like a fish on a hook, and I've had a go at her too, but she's never actually seen it done to someone, has she, Brother?"

"No," he said, his face scarlet. He shook violently as well, but it was with rage.

"Well, what a shame we don't have some sort of flavored coffee to celebrate this moment in our lives," she chirped as she grabbed Anya's chin and yanked it towards her. She met Frost's sapphire eyes with as much hatred as she could muster as the woman continued. "You know, Anya, you really could've just left the dress at home and told the Grandmaster you'd be wearing a look of desperation today."

"What is _wrong _with you?" she whispered.

Frost smirked. "Well, some people say upbringing. But I'm going to go with genetics." She paused as she stroked her captive's cheek. "But it's you, darling. It's you that I'm worried about."

Anya felt something snap inside of her then, like a rubber band flexing backwards and painfully slapping her skin. It was the accumulation of all the frustration, of all the hatred, of all the sheer anger she felt for the woman meeting at one pinnacle inside her heart. Suddenly, the fear was gone. With her jaw set in determination, she spat in the Cryomancer's blue eyes.

Surprised, Frost stepped back as she wiped the spit from her face. But she quickly recovered and grinned evilly once more. "Let's do it again!" she squealed ecstatically.

* * *

Kuai Liang fumed more furiously with each new victim Frost tortured in front of them. With the first man, he wasn't entirely sure why she forced them to watch, and thought it was merely to show them what she was going to do to them next. It wasn't until he saw Anya's distraught face that he understood. It was his sister's way of torturing her without actually harming her, turning her profound empathy for others into an instrument of pain against her. She had watched every prisoner Frost murdered, in spite of his pleas for her to look away, and their agonizing deaths were rapidly taking their tolls on her. Now, he stared at her as the twelfth victim slowly died, and saw her beet-red face, stained by tears and road dirt, fall into a defeated mask that barely held any expression at all. He felt sudden panic when he realized what it was: she was _broken_.

"Here's my last rat," Frost said as she carried a large black animal rife with parasites and slicked with slime in her hands towards them. She didn't muster the courage to kiss it this time as she had with the clean ones prior. "I've been saving this one just for one of you three."

She thrust it into Anya's face, but the Hydromancer only slightly cringed and looked away, probably more because thousands of fleas infested its fur than because she was afraid of the animal itself. Frost deduced this as well and shook her head no. "Hmm, so the Princess isn't afraid of rats? I never would've guessed. Oh well." She sidestepped to her brother. "What about you, Grandmaster? Have any rodent phobias?"

"Go to hell," he snarled.

"You are _so _mean to me!" she cried in faux exasperation. "I'm telling Mom!"

He started to reply but she was already to Kabal. Sub-Zero remembered his partner's hatred of rats and the way he'd whimpered when he had to share a tunnel with them that day they invaded the old Lin Kuei temple. The Cryomancer found he was proud of the warrior throughout this entire ordeal simply because he masked his fear well. But as Frost gradually crept towards him with the animal writhing in her hands, he began to tremble uncontrollably. She giggled in this strange, unearthly chatter.

"Oh, I think we have a winner here," she chuckled. She thrust the animal into Kabal's face. He grimaced and flinched, prompting her to snort. "Drahmin, have you ever heard of such a ridiculous thing in your life? One of Raiden's _champions_ is afraid of a teensy little rat." She and the demon tormentor both began to cackle hysterically at that.

"Leave him alone," Anya growled beside Sub-Zero, startling him. He swung his head to look at her, and saw the red thunderclouds in her eyes. Evidently, her spirit wasn't as broken as he'd initially thought, for which he was grateful.

"Make me," she chided like a schoolyard bully. "Don't move, my dear piece of dried up shoe leather," she warned Kabal. "This one seems like it's raring to bite something, and you've got to look pretty tasty to it right about now. We haven't fed it yet today." Her words made him tremble harder, which amused her further, and she mercilessly set the rat on his shoulder. He grunted and tried to hold still out of pride, but he couldn't stifle his fear. As predicted, his incessant shaking prompted the rat to scurry up an arm and clamp down on his scarred knuckles with its yellowish-orange teeth. He howled now as crimson blood spurted from his hand and trickled into his trench coat's sleeve. The noise startled the rat and it ran down his arm, into the coat, and burrowed its way into his NYPD t-shirt, prompting him to squirm and moan uncomfortably while Frost giggled beside a chuckling Drahmin.

"Stop it!" Anya screeched, crying once more. "Leave him alone."

Kuai Liang had to do something to help his partner, and quick. "If you don't stop it now, Frost, I'll never give you the Dragon Medallion!" he yelled.

That got her attention. She abruptly stopped her laughing and put her hands on her hips. "You bore me, you know that? You have no sense of poetry." She sighed wearily as she pulled the rat from beneath Kabal's navy shirt and handed it to Drahmin. "Still, I suppose I want the Dragon Medallion more than I want to hear Extra Crispy over there cry like a girl. However, I would be remiss if I didn't ask you why the sudden change of heart?"

"I don't know what you mean," he lied. She knew he was stalling.

She smiled. "Don't be coy with me, Sub-Zero," she sneered. "You know as well as I do that everything we do is dictated by motive. So do tell. You let your girlfriend suffer through twelve piles of dung, but Crispy Crittered gets bit _once_ and you're ready to sing like a canary? What's up, Bro?"

"Why did you lie to me? About who you were?"

Frost rolled her eyes. "Really?" She shook her head. "I work for Quan Chi, I infiltrated the Lin Kuei, I'm trying my _hardest _to kill the love of your life, and would've succeeded already if it weren't for that jackass Rain saving her, and you actually have to ask me _why_?"

"Yeah, I do," he argued. "Why? I want to know why you didn't tell me who you were from the beginning. I don't know what our father did to you, Sarah, but you had to have known that I could've made things right."

Now his sister doubled over with laughter before frantically running her hands through her newly cropped hair. Both fists clutched locks at either temple and pulled. Then she angrily stood upright again. "You wanted to make things right?" Her eyes were almost black like onyx, sharp, and wild.

"Yeah, I did," he replied as he fearlessly met her now psychotic gaze. "I still do."

"Too bad," she hissed. "Nothing's ever right." She threw her arms on either side of him as if she were doing a push-up off the wall, stood on her tip-toes, and thrust her face within millimeters of his. He felt decidedly unnerved by the action, but remained motionless, expressionless, waiting for her to flinch first. She didn't. Instead, she said, "Nothing's ever right, Kuai Liang. If it was, you would've kept looking for me even when your little _bitch _convinced you to stop."

"Sarah-"

"Shut up!" she snarled, her normally cold exterior rapidly crumbling. "_I'm still talking!_" When she saw him swallow his words, she whispered as if it were difficult to speak, her body shaking now as well. "You didn't keep looking, and I can't say that I blame you. Why _should _you care for the sister you never knew you had? Why _should_ you care that your worthless excuse for a father tried to killher after selling her to the highest bidder, but missed and wound up getting her adopted family instead? Why _should _you care when your life was so much better, with friends, and a mother who loves you, and a woman you love so much that at her word, you'd abandon your own _sister_ to her fate? Why indeed?"

Sudden understanding flooded Kuai Liang. She was…_jealous_. Of Anya. And she blamed her for feeling so lost in the world. He glanced over at her. She looked exactly like he felt: bewildered. He looked back to Frost. "Sarah, I didn't know-"

She giggled again, but this time it wasn't her usual psychotic mirth that prompted it. It was an uncomfortable laughter that brought genuine tears to her blue eyes. "I've wondered for a long time what my brother was like," she whispered. "And I used to think maybe he _could_ make things right. Maybe he _would_ know how to fix the way I felt inside because no one else did, not even my _Otousan_." She shuddered as her hand curiously touched the jagged scar running the length of his cheek, tears slipping down her face silently. Then, as if she suddenly remembered herself, she stepped back. "But I don't think that way anymore. That's just a childish fantasy."

"No, it's not," he argued, and he meant it.

"I'm going to make a grand show of your death," she began, her voice quivering. "I hope Rain does everything he promised to do to Anya, and I hope her memory comes back just so that she can live every moment knowing that I was the one who threw her into that life with him. If it weren't for me, she'd still be home with you, and you both would probably be happy. But you'll be dead, and her life will be spent in utter servitude to that _disgusting _animal. I hope she suffers every minute of every day and knows it's because I made it so."

"Sarah, stop," the Cryomancer ordered. "Think. I can help you. Let me help you."

She sniffed, blinking furiously, and then grinned halfheartedly. "You know what the difference is between you and me?" she asked. "I _know _what I am. What are _you_, Kuai Liang? What _exactly_ are you willing to do to get what you want?"

"Sarah-"

"_My name is Frost!"_ she roared as kori daggers formed in each hand, and she charged at him, plunging them into the rock wall on either side of his head. Chunks of smooth, black stone exploded around him, and both Anya and Kabal yelped in surprise as bits of dust and debris rained onto their shoulders while a glossy sheen of blue-white ice gradually spread behind their backs. Sub-Zero vaguely noticed the coolness on his skin, paying closer attention to the rapid thumping inside his chest, as his little sister's evil smirk returned. She clicked her tongue and stepped back again.

"Give me the Dragon Medallion now, or I will kill both Kabal and Anya in front of you," she growled.

"I _can't_," he said, glancing worriedly from his love to his partner and back again. Both of them looked back at him in wild-eyed panic. "I can hand it over, but it won't give you the power to rule the Lin Kuei. I told you, it has to choose you. Quan Chi lied to you. He's messing with your head. That's what he does."

Frost inhaled deeply. "Drahmin, strap Kabal to the table. And how do you start this saw machine? I think cutting Anya into bits will be the ideal way to go." She pointed to two massive saw blades, one horizontal and the other vertical, jutting from the opposing wall. Rusty brown bloodstains spattered the black stone around them.

"I'll do it," the demon grunted as he hoisted Kabal from the wall. The detective flailed like a fish on a hook and kicked at his tormentor's body with his heavy boots, but Drahmin barely noticed the warrior's efforts, and fastened him to the table as commanded. Kabal continued to struggle, jerking around and yelling like a madman in restraints.

"Kuai Liang," Anya whimpered as she too fought her bonds, but the cobalt collar around her neck had significantly weakened her, so she couldn't resist as fiercely as his partner had. She looked timidly at the demon as he approached her, his painted mask and fearsome stride terrifying to behold.

"No," the Cryomancer uttered as the three Earthrealm prisoners in their cages, whom he'd long since forgotten about, suddenly came alive with noise. He could hardly hear over their frantic yelling. "Frost, I'm not lying to you! Why won't you listen to me?" He twisted his wrists around his cuffs to get free, but only succeeded in cutting into them. He felt tiny rivulets of blood bead on his skin. "Anya!"

"Get your hands off of me!" she yelled at Drahmin, who was now unfastening her from the wall. "Kuai Liang!" she cried.

"Kick him!" he ordered.

To his relief, she actually obeyed, and her bare foot clubbed the demon squarely in the crotch, prompting him to drop her to the ground as he roared in pain. Unlike Sub-Zero and Kabal, who had been cuffed, she had no such restraints holding her, so she easily jumped to her feet and scrambled away. As she ran, the Cryomancer watched her reach around her neck for the cobalt collar's clasp, manage to unhook it, and throw the entire thing to the side just as his sister shrieked and gave chase. Anya's speed really was a great asset to her, but unfortunately, Frost outwitted her as she ran for the exit. She lobbed an ice ball at the ground ahead of her so that when Anya unwittingly bolted onto it, she lost her balance and crashed into a short flight of stone steps leading up to the door. Frost quickly caught her and yanked her up by the hair with another annoying laugh. But then Sub-Zero watched in shock as Smoke now intervened when he grabbed his sister by _her_ short locks and lifted her off her feet.

Naturally, Frost tried to freeze his arm with her powers, but before she could, he calmly punched her in the jaw and then threw her to the ground. "You were expressly ordered not to harm the human called Annalise Anderson," the cyber-ninja said in his digital voice, though the Cryomancer almost swore he heard…_anger_…in his old friend's tone. Smoke aimed his palm at her, the one with the mini-missiles embedded within, and the hatch on the tiny launch tube slid open.

Frost, confused as to how she wound up on her butt, glanced up at him as he extended his other hand to Anya and helped her to her feet. "What are you, her knight in cybernetic armor?" she chided as she spat out a mouthful of blood and then slowly stood as well.

"You are disobeying orders," he said.

She didn't get a chance to respond because now, with an angry roar of her own, Anya tackled her to the ground. Sub-Zero didn't know who was more shocked – him or Frost – as his love started punching her in the face, her blows sorely lacking in good technique but efficient nonetheless. Sadistic joy pounded through his heart as he saw blood stream from Frost's nose and mouth in thick, clotted rivers. _That's my girl!_ he thought with pride as he mentally cheered Anya on.

Her victory was short-lived, however. Frost didn't tolerate the assault for long before she blocked a punch, hoisted her knee into her attacker's middle, and threw her over her head. As the Hydromancer crashed into the cobblestone floor with a grunt and a thud, an electric blue ice ball formed in his sister's palm. She flipped onto her feet, shrieked angrily, and lunged forward. Anya saw the attack coming and scooted backwards on her butt in terror, and then wildly flung her hands at the Cryomancer before she shielded her face, spraying water blindly at her target. Suddenly, Frost started screaming in agony.

While Anya looked at her in stunned silence, Kuai Liang quickly discerned that the water caught her hand just as the ice ball left it, freezing it solid. He saw it grow rigid and stiff as it turned a sickly blue, as if death itself had been turned into ice. Tears of agony streamed down Frost's face as she clutched her wrist to her chest and rocked back and forth to quell the pain. The sight only bewildered and shocked Anya momentarily, and then she was on her feet and bolting towards her friends while Smoke and Drahmin followed her.

"What are you doing?" Sub-Zero demanded to know as she reached him. She reached above his head and worked at the cuffs.

"I have no clue, I'm just winging it," she breathlessly admitted as the two men approached. She fumbled to get him free, but her hands shook too hard for her to unfasten his bonds. "Dammit!" she cried in frustration after her fourth failed attempt.

"Look out!" he warned as her aggressors reached out to snag her. With a high-pitched yelp, she whirled around and sprayed them both with a powerful jet of water that knocked them backwards over Kabal's table.

"Hey, watch it!" the cop yelled at her, though it was obvious he was as terrified as she was.

With a startled, uncertain look in her eyes, Anya faced the Cryomancer again. "That's not what I meant to do," she muttered quickly, her breaths coming in nervously. It was obvious that adrenaline overwhelmed her. "I meant to…I meant to…" she stuttered.

"It's okay, it still worked," he reassured her. "But you have to get away. Don't worry about me. Get out of here and find Raiden. He'll help you."

"No," she stubbornly argued and continued working on the cuffs.

"Yes," he insisted. He didn't want to do it, but he knew he was going to have to resort to frightening her to get her to obey. And he suspected he knew just how to do it. "Rain's going to be back any second now and he's going to take you away. Is that you want?"

Anya immediately stopped and looked at him, fresh tears forming in her eyes. "No," she admitted.

"Then do what I say and go. I'll be fine. Trust me," he replied.

"But…but I can't _leave_," she said. "I don't _want_ to leave."

"I know, but you have to go. Find Raiden. Will you actually do what I say for once?"

Her tears slipped down her cheeks as she lowered her arms, cupped his face in her hands, and nodded reluctantly. Kuai Liang breathed a sigh of relief as she touched him, a certain reinvigorating euphoria flooding him. Immediately, the little injuries Frost had dealt to him earlier – his split lip, black eyes, broken nose – began to heal. Involuntarily, he thought. Anya seemed to be having trouble controlling these newfound powers of hers. Either way, it's what he'd been longing for since she'd angrily run from the Lin Kuei temple a few weeks prior, and he savored every second as if he'd never feel the pleasant tingling again. He wished he was in a position to kiss her.

And then, probably reading his mind, she stood on her tiptoes and planted a soft, timid kiss on his lips as if she weren't sure he'd allow it. But just as soon as he realized what she was doing, she had pulled away again, her cheeks red with embarrassment.

"I'm sorry," she apologized.

"Go now," he ordered breathlessly, though part of him wanted her to stay.

"And where exactly do you think she should go?" a new voice asked. It was Rain.

* * *

**Author's Note: This was intended to be one long chapter, but I realized it would be impossibly long if I left it the way it was. So, I broke it into two separate chapters in order to be easier on the eyes. It may seem like it ends on a cliffhanger, but that just felt like the place it needed to end. I'm rapidly working on the second part of this chapter, so hopefully that'll be up in a few days.  
**


	30. Bridge Over Troubled Waters

**Author's Note: Once more, a torture disclaimer has been posted. **

**Once more, a cliffhanger awaits you. Prepare to hate Rain and Frost far more than you do at this moment. **

**And most importantly, I want to give all proper credit to my new pen pal, Red Fox Tail, who invented the idea of the saw machine for a different story he was working on, and kindly allowed me to inject it into my chapter. You'll see it more at action in the next chapter, but I just wanted to let people know now that it was his idea. Thank you, kind sir, for that! :)**

* * *

Anya whirled around as Sub-Zero looked up, obviously not realizing until that moment how engrossed he had been with the feel of her hands and lips on his face. He hadn't even been aware of the world around him because if he had, he would've seen the man now standing beside them, watching her kiss his mortal enemy. Rain bore a deep scowl on his gaunt face, and he crossed his arms over his chest as he studied the couple. Quan Chi's spell hadn't triumphed over them, and now, evidently, only death would keep these two apart.

"So," the Edenian prince began, quietly controlling his rage, "you've betrayed your people and dishonored me gravely by choosing to shower Cryomancer garbage with your affections, Anya. What do you think I should do about it?"

He enjoyed the sudden look of panic in her eyes. Though she tried to mask it with courage, there was no denying that she feared his power. She shrunk back as if to hide from him. Good. Everything was as it should be. Almost.

"My Lord," Drahmin began, but Rain calmly held up his hand to silence the demon, his eyes never leaving his woman's. He'd deal with him later.

With a strangled cry that betrayed both frustration and sorrow, he threw out his arm and grabbed Anya by hers. Now she cried out, obviously in pain from the deep wounds on her shoulders, but she resisted and tried to kick him with her bare foot. He chuckled at her efforts, but then twisted her arms behind her back and locked his elbows around them to keep her in place. He then clicked his tongue in disapproval while the Cryomancer filth chained to the wall, who already had bloodied wrists from struggling so hard, inadvertently cut himself deeper just to get free to save her. Rain watched with amusement as Sub-Zero grunted threats under his breath at him and Anya yanked half-heartedly to free herself of his grip.

"Smoke," Rain began as he addressed his inferior, "bring me this little bitch's collar." The cyber-ninja wordlessly obeyed and quickly found her cobalt collar, bringing it to him almost hesitantly. The Edenian thought the automaton's behavior odd, but he chocked it up to his conflicting interpretation of Quan Chi's will, so he dismissively fastened the device around Anya's neck, content in the knowledge that she could no longer use her powers. Then he pushed her into her guardian's arms. "Put your set of cuffs on her so she can't take this off again."

Smoke obeyed, though she wiggled fiercely to get away. "She is not to be harmed," he informed him.

Rain rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes, you're clearly a repetitive creature. A…broken record? If I understand the Earthrealm term for you, I mean. But you will stop saying that. She is _my_ property, not Quan Chi's, and I will do to her what I please. If you have a problem with that, you brainless automaton, I suggest you take it up with someone who cares."

"Quan Chi has not ordered me to stop guarding her from you and Frost," the other replied in as near annoyance as Rain imagined he could get. "Therefore, if you try to injure her in any way, I shall be forced to stop you."

The Edenian prince snorted in derision as he yanked Anya to him once more. "Hear that, my love?" he said into her ear. "You have an advocate. Granted, he's nothing more than a giant toy and his threats mean absolutely nothing to me, but it's the thought that counts, yes?"

"Go to hell," she growled bravely, trying to twist free. He felt arousal from her fearful trembling.

"Hold still now, my pretty," he began as he chuckled and brushed her soft, brown hair off her shoulder and touched the fresh wound. "I want to know what you've been thinking about since last we spoke." Instantly, he plunged his thoughts into her essence and recreated every event she'd endured since the last time he'd touched her and read her mind.

She still didn't remember Sub-Zero entirely, but she remembered him enough to know she loved him. The revelation infuriated Rain. He followed her thoughts where they would go, and they led him to vague memories of sitting with the Cryomancer on a couch before a fire, enjoying the feel of his powerful arms around her, and before that, taking him to something called a restaurant for the first time and trying not to laugh as he tried to figure out what all the extra silverware on either side of his plate was for. The Edenian even figured out that Anya had inadvertently read Sub-Zero's thoughts earlier, and found his thoughts focused on a peculiar ring from an Earthrealm land called Ireland, and that this delicately twisted piece of jewelry was highly symbolic of love. Rain, intrigued, stuck with this train of thought and realized that the Cryomancer intended to marry her, but couldn't find a good way to ask for her hand. The demigod might've laughed if it weren't so utterly pathetic. As if a Hydromancer would willingly accept a Cryomancer's proposal.

But then again, he now saw a small, sterile room unlike anything he'd ever seen in his life, and knew from Anya's memory that it was called a nursery. Babies, specifically Lin Kuei babies, slept in cradles there. Rain saw how one afternoon after putting a child called Gatimu to sleep, the Cryomancer filth nervously broached the subject with her. She had tried hard to come off as indifferent so as not to scare him away, but inside, the Edenian felt her giddy anticipation as she hoped he would ask her right then and there, ring or no ring. And she had started to remember that hope, in spite of Quan Chi's spell and his own determination to crush it.

"Very interesting," he hissed dangerously into her ear. She stiffened considerably, and he tightened his grip even harder. She whimpered as he inadvertently dug his nails into her skin.

Rain suddenly wanted to kill Sub-Zero on the spot.

But in his adamant discussion with Quan Chi over the cobalt collar, the sorcerer insisted that while torturing the man was perfectly acceptable, he was not to die. He still had a purpose to serve, and the sorcerer still needed him for the time being. Rain did not approve of that arrangement at all, but as he stood before his prisoners, he realized with sadistic glee that he could make it work to his advantage. He could punish Anya at the same time he made the Cryomancer garbage suffer.

And speaking of Cryomancer garbage…"Frost, come here," he ordered.

She obeyed, miraculously enough, still weeping over her frozen hand. Rain took one look at the icy blue extremity and burst out laughing. He didn't have to ask, nor did he have to touch her, to know exactly how she came by her injury.

"I'm glad you're so amused," she struggled to say through agonized tears.

"That is why a Cryomancer bitch like you should never challenge a Hydromancer," he taunted. "I can help you in a moment, but for now, let your pain be your teacher," he said. "You do know where you went wrong torturing these three, don't you?"

"I didn't chain you up beside them?" she shot back.

He smirked. "You didn't get them where it really hurt," he snarled. "While I commend you for figuring out how to turn Anya's empathy against her so as to obey Quan Chi without really obeying, you could have taken it up a notch. You could have used these two's pathetic love for each other to hurt each other instead." Now Rain nodded to Drahmin. "Hold her," he ordered as he practically threw Anya into the demon's arms.

"What are you gonna do?" Frost asked curiously.

"I'm shocked that such a cunning cunt like you didn't think of this," he said as he approached his enemy with an outstretched hand and evil smile. The Cryomancer's usual cool expression remained that way until the demigod rested his hand on his chest and pumped all the lightning his father, Argus, had blessed him with through the man's body. He breathed hard in satisfaction as he watched Sub-Zero's body suddenly arch violently, contorting backwards in rigid, unmovable pain as ear-piercing shrieks escaped both him and Anya. He didn't have to look at her to know she suffered every bit as much as he did. Rain ignored her, though he hoped it hurt her just as much as it hurt Sub-Zero. He hoped she realized her behavior was the reason the Cryomancer now suffered. Purplish-white sparks now rained upon everyone present, all of them emanating from the Grandmaster's head, making him look like a grotesque sparkling firework. Rain continued to electrocute his enemy until he sensed through his palm the man's nearness to death. Then, he finally withdrew.

He laughed ruthlessly as Sub-Zero slumped before him and Anya bawled behind him. "Let that be a lesson to you for touching _my _things," he cruelly admonished before he punched his enemy squarely in the jaw and cracked it. It didn't quite break like he'd hoped, but a tooth tumbled from the prisoner's mouth in a thick stream of red blood. With a gratified smirk, Rain backed up and grabbed his trophy woman once more. She predictably tried to wriggle free so she could go to the tortured man's aid, but Rain wouldn't allow it.

"Let me go," she whined. "He needs help!"

"I think not," he told her as he glanced at the Grandmaster's little sister. "Do you get the general idea?" he sneered. "Has it become clear?"

"Crystal," Frost replied with a wicked grin of her own.

"Then give me your hand," Rain ordered. Ordinarily, he would never use a drop of his precious energy to help a Cryomancer. But, he reasoned, the enemy of his enemy was his friend, and even more importantly, she could torture her brother so that the demigod's hands remained clean. Quan Chi would have no one to blame but her. So he would expend the energy and heal her. Frost hesitated at first, but finally gave him her wounded hand and reluctantly allowed him to touch it. He smiled deviously as her essence melded with his because he finally understood why she was the way she was. It was knowledge he could use later, but for now, he tucked it safely away inside his head and focused his power on restoring the frozen tissues to their former perfection.

Not surprisingly, she gave him no thanks, and he didn't want them anyway. It would only serve to remind him he'd helped her, the thought of which made him physically ill. He hoped he hadn't tainted his soul with her vile essence. All Cryomancers were unclean, impure.

"Now go do your job correctly," he ordered her. "Punish him. Punish _her_."

Frost cackled quietly. "You're the boss," she grinned.

Rain looked at Smoke with derision. "Get me a chair, you walking tin-can," he barked. "And if you ever damage my property again," he said as he nodded towards Anya's wounded shoulders, "I'll return the favor."

For a fleeting moment, he thought he saw the cyber-ninja stiffen in anger. But it must've been his eyes playing tricks on him because the automaton bowed as was his custom and then found the Edenian a chair. Rain flopped down in the plain wooden seat, dragging Anya with him, making sure that Sub-Zero could see him clearly. Then, certain the Cryomancer's tired blue eyes were fixed on him, he deliberately ran his hands over his woman's breasts while he suckled on her neck, making sure to create as much erotic noise as possible to further hurt his prey.

Anya whimpered and tried to pull free, but her resistance turned him on more and he clamped down harder around her waist. Now he thrust a hand through one of the holes in her dress, found her bare skin, and enjoyed her obvious discomfort as he ran it down her thigh. Hanging from his spot on the wall, Sub-Zero was clearly upset and tried to mutter some threat, but his words caught in his throat weakly and died before they ever reached the tip of his tongue. Rain knew he was just too exhausted from the cobalt cuffs as well as his shock therapy to form coherent statements. To taunt his enemy, he smirked at him and kissed Anya's neck even harder.

"Get him down," Frost ordered Drahmin, who obeyed but twisted the Cryomancer's arms behind his back and fastened the cuffs at his waist so he couldn't resist much.

"And what of the other one?" the demon wanted to know.

Frost began to answer, but Rain abruptly interrupted her. "Leave him to think about the rat that awaits him," he said, thinking of Quan Chi's orders not to harm the Earthrealm warriors. "Let him think..._happy_ thoughts. He can watch his buddy suffer while _he_ suffers, of course."

"You son-of-a-bitch," Kabal growled. "You and Frost deserve each other."

"And you and Sub-Zero both deserve death. So aren't we all content?" he retorted and nodded to Drahmin. The demon tormentor immediately found hot pokers in the lava-lit hearth and began digging them into the already charred Earthrealm warrior.

Enjoying Kabal's howls of pain, Rain grinned and made sure his Cryomancer nemesis saw him slowly drag his hand higher up Anya's leg until he found the warm spot he had been searching for. She jumped in mild surprise, but he steadied her with little effort, and made her endure his touch even though she begged him to stop. He ignored her completely, focusing only on his enemy's growing rage as he fluttered his fingers beneath Anya's skirt.

"Get your damn hands off of her," Sub-Zero choked tiredly from his kneeling position on the floor.

"Would you prefer it if I started sticking things inside of her?" he countered with a pointed expression on his face. Then he dug his hand through her thick hair, wrapped his fingers around a large lock at her scalp, and pulled as hard as he could. She yelped as he used it like a horse's rein to pull her to him. "How about you, my love? Would you prefer that?"

"Please stop," she whined as she continued to twist her body to get free. He only responded by pulling her head to him harder and pressed his other hand deeper into her warm, moist skin. Now she burst into tears, filling him with disgust. Didn't she do anything but cry?

Frost, however, was uninterested in Rain's activities. She had already retrieved a hot iron like Drahmin's from the roaring mantle built atop a stream of lava. Sub-Zero never took his eyes off the demi-god fondling his lover, even when his sister plunged the gently pointed end into his muscular shoulder, creating a cloud of hissing steam and smoke followed by the smell of burnt flesh. He only grimaced this time, but it was clear that his teeth were clinched to the point of shattering.

The demigod was not moved. "Here, my friend," he began with mock sympathy, "you look thirsty. Have a drink." Immediately, he yanked his hand from Anya's dress, aimed it at his enemy, and sprayed a powerful jet of water from his palm into the man's eyes. The force knocked Sub-Zero onto his side, and he groaned and blinked furiously, unable to wipe the liquid away. Frost giggled as he strained to shake the water from his face, resembling something like a retarded snake. Rain joined in her laughter, followed by Drahmin. Not surprisingly, Smoke did not join in. His programming had no concept of humor.

"Stop it!" Anya screamed as Frost kicked Sub-Zero in the spine before she drove the poker into his ribs. Once more, his back arched backwards and he managed to gurgle in pain.

"Aw, did that hurt?" his younger sister taunted as he rolled groaning onto his cuffs.

"Not nearly enough," Rain replied on his behalf. "Drahmin, help Frost give him a bigger drink of water," he ordered.

He didn't have to elaborate more because the Oni tormentor, a demon very skilled at the art of torture, already knew what he meant. Drahmin happily abandoned Kabal – who was sweating profusely around scorched circles in his skin and panting heavily through his bizarre breathing mask – and now filled another metal tub with dirty water from an ancient spigot installed in the black stones. Frost cackled when she saw it. She, like her partner for the moment, automatically understood what Rain told them to do. On the floor, Sub-Zero seemed to as well, but always stubborn and proud, his face betrayed no fear of what was coming. Rain might've admired that in any other warrior, but his hatred for the Cryomancer refused to allow such a feeling to emerge.

"Drahmin, bring the tub around so Anya and I can see this clearly," he chirped.

"What are you going to do to him?" she sobbed while the demon obeyed, having finally accepted Rain's hand beneath her skirt because she was more preoccupied with Sub-Zero's fate than what the Edenian was doing to her. Suddenly turned off, he angrily extracted his hand.

In retaliation, Rain flipped his palm upward towards the sky and summoned lightning from the atmosphere to the ground. The bolt automatically found the Cryomancer because the Hydromancer willed it to, and he laughed even harder as his enemy's body tensed to the point of breaking. A sizzling sound like meat frying filled the air, prompting the demigod to chuckle in sadistic amusement once more while Anya sobbed harder in his arms. As expected, she refused to look away, opting instead to empathically share in her love's pain. She crumpled, but Rain impatiently held her upright to watch the lightning explode through the soles of Sub-Zero's tabi boots.

"Am I doing this, or are you?" Frost snapped at him.

He simply smiled. "I had to get my one shot in, my dear piece of Cryomancer trash," he replied. "You may continue."

She sneered and then grabbed Sub-Zero's feet, both of which were too weak to kick her like they probably wanted, and then she lifted them as high as they would go so that Drahmin could better wrap a rope around her victim's ankles and hoist him to the ceiling on a pulley. Now truly helpless and only able to muster a slight wiggle at his discomfort, he grunted while the demon handed control of the rope to Frost and maneuvered the tub of water directly beneath his head. In Rain's lap, Anya finally caught on to their plan and started screeching once more for them to stop. She lunged forward, but the Edenian expected such an action and caught her by her waist once more to stop her. He clicked his tongue and laughed.

"Don't worry, my love," he taunted. "This won't hurt him. Much." Then he paused. "Of course, I _have _heard that drowning is the most painful way a person can die. Should we test that theory?"

"No!" she yelped. "Kuai Liang!"

The sound of the Grandmaster's real name set Rain's teeth further on edge. "I think we should," he snarled as he dug his fingers into her arms once more and shook her. She yelped. "I want to see if this hurts as terribly as I hope it does."

With that, he nodded to Frost, who giggled as her brother wriggled like a worm on a hook from his rope, and then slowly lowered him face-first into the bucket. The Cryomancer remained mostly calm at first. It was no less than what Rain expected. But after about thirty seconds, panic clearly began to set in. Sub-Zero twitched. At first, it was a subtle thing barely noticeable to anyone not concentrating intently on his body, but it quickly spiraled downward to the point that he was flailing wildly like a fish on the shoreline thrashing for water to wet its gills.

Anya weakly tried to kick Rain in the leg so she could escape, but her foot bounced off his purple shin guard and caused her to screech in her own agony. Her pathetic effort to get away to help the Cryomancer prompted him to laugh at her. "That was pitiful," he mocked her. "You're missing the show." He nodded to her beloved struggling for air.

"You're gonna kill him," she cried. "Stop it! Stop it now!"

"You were right, Rain," Frost smiled wickedly as her sharp blue eyes focused on Anya's distressed form. "This is _far _more fun."

"Anya," Kabal whimpered behind them, his voice hoarse from his own screaming earlier. The Hydromancers, Drahmin, and Frost looked at him as he lolled his head to the side to face them. "It's gonna be okay, babe," he said to Anya. "It's gonna be okay. I know you probably don't remember how tough your polar bear is, but he's gonna pull through, and he's gonna take you home where you'll be safe." Now he craned his head upright once more and winced as the rat's scratching inside the tub grew more frantic. "You've gotta believe me, Anya. He's gonna take care of you, and he's gonna get you out of this."

"Ohhh," Frost teased him, "that's sweet. And they say chivalry is dead."

Rain was already bored, but felt a new thrill when he saw Sub-Zero's body begin to lax as the dirty water filled his lungs. Smoke, on the other hand, unexpectedly spoke up. "The Grandmaster has been submerged for exactly two minutes and thirty four seconds," he announced.

"Your point is?"

"You are not to exterminate him," the other said simply. "He will lose consciousness soon and die within a minute after."

Anya sat defeated on Rain's lap, her head sagging down as she cried for her love. The Edenian hated to admit it, but the cyber-ninja had a point. He had no qualms with allowing the grunts to kill the Cryomancer filth, but not yet. The demigod wanted to make him suffer as much as possible before he let him die, so he smirked, nodded to Frost, and watched as she hoisted her brother into the air once more.

Brownish water from an Outworld sewer streamed from Sub-Zero's longish hair, and he coughed violently as air forced all the liquid from his lungs. His blue eyes were as panicked as a prey animal's, for once matching his equally contorted face. Rain chuckled.

"Tell me, Cryomancer trash, did that hurt?" he jeered as Raiden's champion threw up water and choked on it.

But Sub-Zero refused to acknowledge his question. Instead, almost pitifully Rain thought, he caught his sobbing love's eyes and seemed to plead for _her_ help for once. "Anya," he wheezed a brief moment later, his tone further evidence to prove the demigod's theory. And then he closed his eyes, still coughing and snorting out the sewer water. "I love you," he mumbled in a nearly incoherent voice, but one that infuriated Rain once more.

"Put him in again," he snarled angrily. Frost obeyed while Drahmin and Smoke looked on.

"I'm bored with this," the female Cryomancer complained several long dunks later. "Can we just hook him up to the saw blades? I've been dying to use them on someone today." She nodded towards the vertical and horizontal circular saws jutting from the wall.

Rain thought about it. Quan Chi had expressly forbidden it. On the other hand, he wanted Sub-Zero dead. And technically, he could deny his presence in the torture pit and let Frost, Drahmin, and Smoke take the blame for his enemy's untimely demise. He desperately wanted to draw out the Cryomancer's suffering, but time was of the essence as he did not know when the sorcerer would return and put an end to their exploits, so if he wanted to kill Sub-Zero, he had to do it soon. So he nodded his assent and felt aroused once more when Anya started screaming, crying, and pleading for his mercy all at the same time.

"Please, Rain," she sobbed, "I'll do anything you wish. Anything at all. Just please don't kill him." She bawled as Drahmin cut down Sub-Zero. The demon laughed as his prisoner fell four feet onto the ground, landed on his shoulder with a cockeyed crunch, and inadvertently smeared his own watery vomit around with his hands and cheeks. Rain and Frost couldn't help but laugh either as the demon tormentor lifted the pathetically weak Cryomancer by his arm and dragged him towards the machine.

"Foolish girl," the demigod responded as he stroked her face and gently bit at her ear to show his dominance, "I'm going to get your full cooperation from you soon enough, and you're right. You _will_ do anything I ask of you. So I can be patient a few hours longer. A few hours are worth his death."

"No," she whined.

"Yes," he laughed as he stood up with her and motioned for Smoke to approach him. "Put her back into her cage for now," he ordered the cyber-ninja. Then he happened to notice that part of his cybernetic armor on his forearm had vanished, leaving only exposed skin deathly pale from lack of sunlight to see. Rain cocked his head at the man. "What happened to your armor?" he demanded to know.

Smoke looked where the demigod pointed, but seemed genuinely surprised by the mysterious disappearance of one of his built-in gauntlets. "I do not know," he admitted. Now Rain detected puzzlement.

But he only frowned. Something strange was at work here. He looked from Anya back to Smoke. They _had _spent an awful lot of time together lately due to Quan Chi's painfully strict orders. Perhaps she had done something to the cyber-ninja during that time. Perhaps she had…Rain immediately touched the exposed skin and confirmed his suspicions, sensing the accidental way she'd accessed his mind and triggered his body's natural healing impulses. The automaton was not completely himself again, and probably never would be, but the demigod could tell he was struggling to break through the paper-thin walls that held him now. But that was crazy, Rain thought. Noob Saibot was attached to his soul, and would've said something had he felt such a significant change in Smoke's brain…unless, of course, he was about to make a power play of his own against Quan Chi and Shang Tsung. The Edenian prince narrowed his eyes.

"I will deal with you once I've dispatched your old friends," he growled. "In the meantime, Smoke, you will put Anya back in her cage."

While Smoke carried out the demigod's orders, Frost and Drahmin were busy fastening Sub-Zero into the machine. It was a simple torture device really, but highly effective at putting a painful end to someone's life. An old, wooden lever turned the machine on and off. Then the victim, hung from cuffs on a hook dangling from the ceiling, was slowly sent from one wall to the other where the two rotating saw blades waited to cut him or her into pieces. Rain appreciated the drawn out trip from one side of the room to the other because the sight of their impending doom drew out their psychological terror just a little longer.

After Drahmin had hung Sub-Zero from the hook, Rain motioned for Frost to stand by the lever so she could turn on the machine like she wanted, and then he glanced at Kabal on the table in the middle of the room. "Drahmin, it's high time you introduced that piece of charred meat to the rat." The demon quickly carried out his orders; Raiden's champion thrashed uselessly against his restraints as the demon spread hot coals across the top, and then he started shrieking as the animal scurried around his torso in fear. Rain sensed the creature biting him already, and he smiled at the thought.

"You really should pick your friends more wisely," he admonished as he waved to Frost to begin. She clapped her hands happily before she whirled around and kicked the lever with a flourish. With a shuddering, oily fart followed by a dull roar, the saw machine sprang to life.

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**Autho****r's Note: ****Wow, 30 chapters? I can't believe I've made it this far! That's two more chapters than I had for _Sub-Zero: Origins_, and I'm not even done with this story yet! This has become much bigger than I originally intended. In honor of the big 3-0, I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who reads my stuff, whether you review or not, hit me up in a PM or not, and I have to say that I write for you because I want to tell you a story you'll like to hear. Additionally, I need to show some love to my pen pals who are my consistent peanut gallery.**

**1) To Firebending Master - my ever-present fireman who has a secret talent for inventing fight sequences in a story. Also, it turns out he has a penchant for telling people off when they dog me for proudly taking San Soo and Wing Chun classes! Which reminds me...it's time to write your own MK story, dammit, since now I know for sure you know how to read and write! LOL**

**2) To HavenRose - an up-and-coming writer who is already better than I was when I was her age! But, she's also my favorite Ninja Turtle, and I enjoy chatting with her on the Facepage about anything and everything. And she gives me some really great ideas to explore with my story, things that snowball into even bigger things! I'd like to think that she's _my _mentor as much as I'm hers. **

**3) To BloodArtSerenity909 - another up-and-coming writer deserving of recognition for skill that exceeded mine at her age, but even more because she works hard to take care of her younger sister. This young lady inspires me constantly because I don't think I could ever do what she does, and she does it while working hard to hone her God-given talent. Her stories are very good and heart-wrenching. **

**4) To ElfDavis - yet another talented young writer I've recently befriended! How blessed am I that I've gotten to become these ladies' pen pal and talk about anything and everything with them? **

**5) To Obelisk of Light - my first pen pal from Asia, which has me super stoked! It blows my mind that she writes so beautifully in English when English is her second language. But apart from that, she writes the best, most comprehensive reviews of my story that I've ever seen. I hate to nudge you all with hints or anything, but that's my favorite way to write and receive a review. She's amazing at it. **

**6) To Red Fox Tail - my newest pen pal who recently flattered me by asking permission to use my OC's and some of the elements of my story in his. Like HavenRose, I enjoy chatting with him on the Book-Face because we bounce ideas back and forth on each other, but talk sports, politics, family, and many other things together.**

**7) Last but not least, to Overseerneversleeps - a sweet gentlemen who is convinced I'm brilliant, awesome, and visionary, even though I'm so far from convinced it's not funny! It'd be hard to tell you everything that makes this guy cool, but trust me, he is. And he has a gift for reassurance that is not easy to find. **

**So, I know most of you must think this a tacky gesture, but it felt like an important occasion to do it. I have to remind myself that even though I'm the writer, I don't do it in a friendless vacuum. People are always around me, helping me, inspiring me. So to everyone who reads my story, whether I know your name or not, I appreciate your support! XD**


	31. Another Dead Man Found in a Hole

**Author's Note: First, ****I want to give all proper credit to Red Fox Tail, who invented the idea of the saw machine for a different story he was working on, and kindly allowed me to inject it into my chapte****r. Thank you, sir =)**

**Secondly, I have to say thank you to Firebending Master for helping me choreograph this fight, and thank you to HavenRose for helping me come up with funny things for Kabal to say during the course of it. **

**Lastly, not that it's important, but the song from the "Darksiders 2" soundtrack called "The Crowfather" inspired me a lot for this chapter. **

* * *

The demon wraith lurked in the shadows, unseen, unfelt, unknown. Something like disgust seared his heart as he watched the scene unfold in the Outworld torture pit. He couldn't quite be sure what it was as his heart felt little but rage anymore, but occasionally some semblance of humanity trickled in and colored his anger with something else. Frankly, he didn't care if the wretched fighters he observed all destroyed each other, nor did he care if all the dimensions of creation were annihilated in the process. They were all better off dead. No, beyond that. _Better off like they never were_. None of these vile people understood.

_Perhaps one does_, he reminded himself. He studied the Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei from his shadow-enshrouded hiding spot on a shelf of small torture devices. The man who now called himself Sub-Zero, the man these villains hung from the low-hanging ceiling by a pair of cobalt cuffs, was his blood-sworn enemy simply because he _was _Lin Kuei. It was a proclamation laid down by the Shirai Ryu centuries before he was even born, when the forest ghosts revealed their true, cowardly natures. The undead Grandmaster of the Japanese clan had spent his entire life hunting their assassins with joy, without remorse, and he'd never questioned his purpose. But the Cryomancer who'd taken control of the Lin Kuei was different than his brethren, than even the blood brother whom the wraith had slain in the Mortal Kombat tournament. This man felt like a kindred spirit to the undead warrior because he clearly felt more than just bloodlust – he felt _love_ – and for a member of the Lin Kuei clan of assassins, such a notion was unheard of. So Sub-Zero didn't _feel _like his enemy. Not anymore.

When he'd confronted the warrior in the forest, he expected icy cool reserve to fuel the younger man's energy. That was how it had been with the elder brother. The wraith was surprised, however, and deeply so, that Sub-Zero responded with such fiery ferocity, especially since weeks of spying on him revealed a cold demeanor devoid of any apparent spirit. But during that fight, he wouldn't have believed his enemy capable of wielding ice unless he'd seen it with his own eyes. There was a hot, burning furnace roaring inside his belly, and it gave him great power and passion. The demon admired that. But what truly impressed him was the way Sub-Zero could push aside his own feelings of hatred for his enemy to let mercy take over, revealing the immense compassion in his heart that triumphed over all evil. For that, the young Grandmaster was the first Lin Kuei assassin the wraith could, and would, actually call a 'warrior'.

However, the wraith already knew Sub-Zero was cut from a different cloth before that test in the forest, and had decided to ally himself with him before that encounter partly because he seemed like a man of integrity. But mostly it was because the man's love for his woman reminded him of _his_ love for his wife. As the wraith lurked around the Lin Kuei temple to determine if he could trust the other, he noticed how the Grandmaster was a statue of unexpressed emotion in front of everyone but her. But when no one was looking, he became an entirely different person who doted on her because she was clearly the center of his universe. Sub-Zero, in that respect, reminded the wraith of himself before his death because he was stoic until he was alone with his beautiful Kana.

He blinked back the pain stabbing at his eyes as he thought of her gentle smile. He remembered – as he always remembered because his brain knew it tortured him the most – how she sat in their bed late one afternoon and held a tiny bundle of blankets in her arms, their newborn son Jubei, looking down on his tiny face. Her long, black hair was stringy with sweat, and her pale face revealed profound exhaustion, but though she clearly felt tired, she didn't complain. For that, he found he loved his wife even more. She tenderly stroked the baby's thin, black hair and then handed him to him.

"Hanzo," she had said quietly so as to not disturb the sleeping child, "he looks just like you."

He hadn't been quite sure how Kana knew that to be true. Jubei's face was compressed and hardly seemed human, rather like a monkey. Unless his wife really thought her husband was as ugly as an old, wrinkly baboon, he didn't see the resemblance. Still, he refused to argue with her about it because she was so adamant, but to his relief the boy's face smoothed and filled out within a few days. By then, it was more apparent as to what she saw. They shared the same eyes, face shape, nose, and forehead. And in terms of personality, the boy took the best qualities from his parents, growing to be studious and disciplined like his father but calm and caring like his mother.

In the torture pit, the wraith drifted into peaceful memories of the six sweet years he'd known his son. Jubei was his shadow, following him everywhere and absorbing everything he knew like a sponge. Hanzo had even made a toy kunai blade for the boy to play with after the curious child snuck outside with his very real one, though it was expressly forbidden, and nearly impaled himself on his thigh when he tripped on a rock. He'd had to beat his son's backside for disobeying his rule, and it pained him to do it, but afterwards he carved a pretend one from wood as an apology. Of course, he told Kana the toy was to practice the art so he could someday be as good with it as his father. She smiled and nodded, though Hanzo knew she was merely humoring him. She knew how much her husband adored their only child.

But if he adored Jubei, he worshiped Kana. That was one of the other things he found he had in common with the young Lin Kuei Grandmaster. Kana was as beautiful to him as Annalise was to Sub-Zero. She was petite and small, very unlike the American woman now being held captive by Quan Chi, though her hair was also dark and long and smelled like honeysuckle flowers. Her personality was markedly different as well. She seemed wise beyond her years, and was patient, gentle. Never once did he hear her raise her voice.

But in his observations, Annalise was quick to anger, quick to react, vocal, stubborn, and at times childish. The wraith almost pitied his new ally for catching such a wildcat of a woman. His wife never would've behaved like that, and he wasn't sure he would've tolerated it if she wanted to. But, Sub-Zero seemed to enjoy the challenge, so he didn't give the matter a second thought. Every man has to deal with his wife in the way he sees fit.

In spite of his disapproval of Annalise's inappropriate behavior, the wraith found that of everyone present in the pit, he hated Rain the most for trying to beat her tame, break her will, and pen up her soul. A spirit like hers should _never_ be caged up and enslaved. Furthermore, he reasoned, how dare he run his fingers over another man's woman like that? It was the most dishonorable thing a man who called himself a warrior could do, the gravest insult. Only cowards molested women. At least, that's what Kana would've said, and he would've believed her. She was the only woman he respected enough to listen to in matters such as this.

But she was gone, and though the wraith had relaxed slightly as he swam through thoughts of her and Jubei, the cruel voice in his head slapped him back to the present and knocked him headlong into his rage once more. The blood of his family and clan soaked his thoughts. Now he trembled furiously in his hiding spot, loathing himself for being away when she'd been butchered, when their _son_ had been butchered. If only he had been home, if only he'd obeyed his gut instincts and declined Quan Chi's offer to eliminate the Lin Kuei on behalf of the Shirai Ryu. But he'd been so greedy, so foolish, and his family had paid for his hubris. If only…_If only_…If _only_ Quan Chi hadn't tricked him and made him look like a fool! A ravenous hunger for revenge – a pain that was always present but now overwhelming – began to burn from his stomach, creep up his throat, and burst from his eyes. He would return the sorcerer's favor…

And that was why he was here, now, sent by the Elder Water God to rescue the Lin Kuei Grandmaster. Sub-Zero would aid him in his quest because Quan Chi had destroyed his family and clan as well.

So when he heard Rain say, "You really should pick your friends more wisely," he promptly sprang into action. He noted everything and everyone around him. The Oni tormentor, Drahmin, stood behind the others like a sentry. The demon wraith knew from previous encounters with the hellspawn that though he said little, he was far from stupid. The other demon had once been a general, and was cunning, to say nothing of being brutally strong. The mace affixed to his arm, newly replaced after having been frozen by Sub-Zero, would pose the biggest threat. The wraith knew he had to take Drahmin out before he could even think of the others, and it would be best to do it quickly before he knew what hit him.

He summoned his powers and created a dark portal behind him, falling backwards through, not even noticing the way he felt like he was sliding down a steep hole. In a split second, the portal deposited him, crouching to attack, on the ground behind Drahmin. Nobody noticed him; they were too engrossed in watching the saw machine slowly carry Sub-Zero towards his death. He'd deal with that in a moment. The wraith slowly stood, reaching for his katanas. Suddenly, the Oni demon whirled around, catching him off guard, flailing his huge, spiked club at his head. Though the wraith was momentarily shocked by his quick reflexes, he quickly forced it away and yanked his swords from their sheaths on his back before he calmly sliced off Drahmin's weapon.

The demon looked at the stump stupidly. "Scorpion," he growled angrily. "Your timing is impeccable as always."

The wraith narrowed his eyes at his code-name. He loathed it. It was the creature his _Otousan _compared him to from the time he was a child because he was so utterly fast and efficient that no one saw him strike. He said they shared the same spirit. Once it had been a positive name, an example to live by, but now it was the name men uttered when they paid him to go on missions to kill their enemies. It was the reason he'd been away the night Quan Chi and the Tarkatans butchered Kana and Jubei under the Lin Kuei banner. It was the name he'd been damned by. It was a cursed name. But he had kept it. The agonizing memories that accompanied it weren't nearly a fraction of the punishment he deserved for his crimes.

Surprisingly quick for such a monstrous-sized demon, Drahmin lunged at him and nearly caught him, brushing his fingers against the undead man's yellow tunic. But Scorpion stepped back while he threw his arms into the air, watching indifferently as searing flames followed the motions obediently, setting his opponent on fire. Though an immortal demon as well, Drahmin broke off his attack and began screaming as the fire angrily chewed at his exposed muscles, blackening them slowly.

_So much for the element of surprise. _

Now Frost, Sub-Zero's long lost sister, growled like a jackal before she scurried across the floor and leapt onto the table where Kabal was squirming and moaning to get free of his rat torture. She crouched over the metal bucket angrily, not at all worried about the smoke rising from her rapidly melting rubber soles, glaring at him with wicked blue eyes reminiscent of a hypnotized cobra's. Before Scorpion had time to register her intent, the speedy Cryomancer had already leapt from her perch, spraying thousands of tiny ice shards at him from her palms as she glided through the air. The wraith barely had time to summon a massive wall of fire to save himself before the razor-sharp crystals cut him to ribbons.

"Hey, you wanna be careful there, pal?" Kabal yelped hoarsely as he fought to twist his wrists from the metal restraints fastening him to the rusty table. The wall of fire shot furiously beside him to the ceiling, emanating scorching heat in all directions. "I didn't pack my sunscreen for our little day at the beach and I burn easy!" Raiden's champion now flinched and looked away to shield his face, but the metal tub on the opposite side began to glow slightly. "Not cool! Not cool! Not cool! Bad rat! Bad rat!" he suddenly yelled, though his voice was deadpan serious.

Scorpion had no time to look, but he suspected the animal was even more terrified by the sudden increase in heat, and was scurrying frantically over Kabal's belly in search of an escape route. It wouldn't be long before the animal figured out the quickest way. Pathetically, the detective turned his head back towards the fire and started to blow.

But Scorpion couldn't worry about that now. Frost had leapt through the air once more to clear the flames and was sailing towards his chest with a loud shriek. He calmly stepped aside to grab her leg, but saw Rain twitch from the corner of his eye. Just as the Hydromancer sprayed a high-powered blast of water at him, Scorpion caught her and threw her in the jet's path like a human shield. As expected, she screamed as it lifted her off her feet and carried her into a wall on the other side of the room. It flung her violently into a rack that housed various torture devices, all of which fell on her head as she slumped to the floor in a stunned haze.

Drahmin, scorched but still alive, now threw a massive metal ball dotted with two inch long spikes at the ninja's head, but the latter leaned back to dodge it, and it sailed harmlessly towards the four prisoners' cages and into Smoke's mid-section.

"Tomas!" Annalise squealed from her cage as the ball knocked him into the wall behind him. He slumped to the floor, sparks shooting from the wires in his chest and his body contorting violently. She reached through the bars as if to grab him, but started to cry in frustration when she couldn't.

Scorpion studied her momentarily, puzzled. Had he missed something? Why did she suddenly care so much what happened to her guard? He couldn't pause on it long as something reasonably heavy suddenly landed on his back. A pair of slender but powerful arms wrapped around his throat, and they were accompanied by a half-satanic giggle. _Frost_.

"Give me those!" she growled in a gravelly voice. He instantly knew she meant his katanas. Quickly, he reached up with his hand and dug his fingers into her short hair, using the clumps to fling her from his back. She crashed into the floor several feet away with a laugh, and the wraith cursed under his breath when he saw she'd gotten his weapons in spite of his reaction.

Once more, he narrowed his eyes, giving her little warning as to what was coming. As fast as a scorpion stings its prey, he threw out his arm, and along with it his kunai blade attached to a strong rope. Behind his bony mask he smiled in satisfaction as it plunged through her uniform and caught her shoulder. Her armor-like tunic deflected and redistributed much of the force, but the kunai blade still burrowed through and snagged her as if he'd just caught a fish, even if it didn't hurt her physically like he wanted.

From his spot on the table, Kabal still squirmed. "I'm getting hot now, and not in a good way!" he hollered.

The detective had too big of a mouth. Scorpion was tempted to let him die. At least Sub-Zero, swinging slowly towards the loudly buzzing saw blades, stayed silent like a real man. At least he was prepared to die with honor. But Scorpion pushed all thoughts of both men to the back of his mind as he stared squarely into Frost's maniacal eyes and began to reel her in. He wanted his katanas back, and was going to get them one way or another. She struggled slightly, but as with all his victims, was compelled to stagger towards him against her will. But after she stumbled to the floor only a couple feet in front of him, she slowly met his eyes with a psychotic grin that chilled even _his_ blood.

Something was wrong.

But as soon as Scorpion thought it, she had already swung the katanas around and cut herself free, whirled in a circle, and sliced him so hard across his face that it shattered part of his mask. Bits of antique bone crumbled on the floor as a stream of lava, the new blood pumping through his demonic veins, spilled onto his tunic and the floor. He stumbled back now in as much pain as shock at her attack. He gingerly felt his face, more specifically the bony skull she'd revealed to all present. The hard dips and knobs throbbed uncontrollably beneath his fingertips. Meanwhile, Frost cackled and danced around with his katanas, showing the weapons the utmost disrespect.

Infuriated now, Scorpion lunged at her, but had forgotten Rain in this ordeal. The Hydromancer had become a pillar of water that rapidly dissipated, only to reform beside the wraith in time to attack him with a powerful roundhouse kick to the chest. Stunned, he flew through the air and crashed into another shelf against a wall at least twelve feet away. Barbaric weapons and tools buried him as he slipped to the floor, clutching his pounding chest. Immediately, he closed his eyes as if the blow had knocked him unconscious.

He didn't have to see the three fighters to know they were now creeping towards him slowly. Rage burned through him, and he wanted to leap up now to finish them off once and for all, but he could be patient. At least, he thought he could until he heard the woman, Annalise, squeal in terror.

"Kuai Liang!" she screamed while everyone else was distracted. Scorpion inwardly scowled as the woman cried hysterically in her cage.

_Good God, woman, be quiet! _he admonished. _No man should be subjected to a wailing female when he is about to die. _But Scorpion found himself taking pity on her for her grief because it was obvious her feelings for him, though obscured by Quan Chi's dark magic, were mutual.

"Anya," the wraith heard Sub-Zero weakly reply, though his voice was barely audible over the loud buzzing of the saws. "Anya, please don't watch. Promise me you won't watch." She choked out an incoherent response. "Don't watch," he said again, and then sighed before uttering a prayer to whoever was listening. "Oh, God, please don't let her watch me die."

"No," she whined. Scorpion, though slightly annoyed with her tears, reminded himself that Kana would've reacted the same way as her, and he would've commanded her to turn away just as Sub-Zero had. So he forgave her for her grief. But what Annalise didn't realize was that he had no intention of letting her would-be husband die today, so her sorrow was unjustified.

"Come on, Rain, finish this asshole off," Frost pressed. "I'm about to miss the best part!"

"Drahmin," the demigod began as he yanked something heavy off the floor, most likely the hammer that lie beside his boots, the one that resembled the recently deceased Shao Kahn's that lie, and handed it to the demon. "Squash his skull like a piece of fruit."

"Gladly," Drahmin replied.

Scorpion waited patiently to open his eyes until the subtle vibrations in the stones beneath him indicated the demon tormentor was beginning to swing. His sensitivity was partially caused by his supernatural awareness, but it was also the product of years of intense training in the art of detecting subtle changes in the environment around him. That is why, even though his eyes were firmly sealed shut, he easily leapt to his feet and gracefully arched the broadsword he'd grabbed towards Drahmin's body. He opened his eyes in time to see his weapon cut cleanly through the Oni's arm, slicing it neatly off at the elbow. Both limb and hammer toppled to the floor with a loud thud. But the wraith didn't waste time congratulating himself; he let the blade carry him around in a full circle until he connected with demon tissue again, this time his neck.

Drahmin stood stupidly before him, his eyes bulging in surprise behind his painted blue and white mask. Then his head slid off the stump to the side, falling to the floor, inviting the rest of his body to follow. Before it hit the cobblestone with a hollow noise, Scorpion had already dived through a new portal and emerged at the lever that controlled the saw machine. With a ferocious roar, he gripped the handle and threw it upwards into the wall. The mechanisms automatically halted, leaving Sub-Zero dangling from the ceiling only halfway across the room.

But Rain and Frost were already charging towards Scorpion as a team, though the speedy little Cryomancer leapt into the air and landed on a sheet of ice that stretched and expanded as she rode it into him. She screamed inhumanly as she violently smashed into his chest, knocking him into the handle, and grunted in satisfaction as a loud crack broke through the hot air. The wraith wasn't sure if the sound came from his bones snapping or the old wooden handle. Sharp, throbbing pain coursed through his spine and ribs. Scorpion fell to his knees as the saws immediately started up once more, and though temporarily stunned, he realized that it was, in fact, the lever that was broken. He almost yelled in frustration when he saw it splintered completely into the wall, and stuck permanently in the 'on' position.

Not giving him any time to recover, Rain was upon him now, attacking him with a delicately curved sword attached to an intricately carved tusk handle. Scorpion barely had time to dodge the attack before Frost was lunging at him as well, expertly swinging his katanas as if they were extensions of _her _body rather than his. As she gracefully cut through the air towards his head, he ducked before she hit him and then hit her arm with a perfect crescent kick to her wrist. Immediately, one of his katanas clattered noisily to the floor as she automatically drew back and fired an ice ball directly at his chest. Scorpion felt the frigid air tighten and solidify as the ball scraped harmlessly by, though his yellow tunic froze at the hem, and he dove between Frost and Rain's legs to retrieve his weapon.

It was the Hydromancer's turn, however, to attack the wraith with his gifts. Unexpectedly, before he reached his katana, a womb of water enveloped Scorpion, and he mildly panicked as it paralyzed him while lifting him off the floor. Through the liquid, he saw Rain's wicked face grin evilly as he raised his arm and willed the ball of water to turn over several times in the air, disorienting the wraith and filling him with vertigo, before he snapped his arm towards the opposing wall. Obeying his command, the water bubble raced towards the same spot, exploding in a cool, fire-extinguishing shower over Kabal's body in the middle of the room. As the flames died and clouds of hot steam roiled through the air around them, Scorpion careened into the Earthrealm champion and accidentally knocked the metal tub from his body in the process. The terrified rat scurried away.

The wraith fell to the floor, but was glad he was no longer paralyzed. He jumped to his feet just as Kabal muttered, "I love you man. Forget Yukon Cornelius. Did you ever know that you're my hero?"

"Shut up," Scorpion growled at him before he leapt through a new portal to get his katana.

Frost, however, anticipated his actions and met him when he emerged. She chopped his other weapon towards his head, but he had stealthily grabbed its mate and parried her attack before she could cleave his skull in two. She grunted in surprise as he slowly rose, unyielding to her, gradually overcoming her with his superior strength. Her alabaster face turned beet red as they both struggled for a foothold over the battle, but Scorpion quickly lost patience and punched the pressure point in her bicep near her armpit, the spot where the nerve was especially vulnerable to pain. As expected, she squealed and dropped the sword, staggering backwards as she frantically rubbed her arm.

"_Motherfucker!_" she roared in a high, shrill tone while Scorpion retrieved his other katana and then sheathed them both. "That's cheating!"

Frost furiously lunged at him then, but he promptly leapt and snap-kicked her in her sternum between her breasts, knocking her backwards against the saw machine's rapidly rotating gears. Five large disks with thick, biting teeth cranked steadily into each other at various angles, converging into one point behind her. She staggered against them as she clawed at the pain in her chest. Scorpion looked from her to her brother, who was nearly at the saw blades now, writhing to get free in spite of his injuries and exhaustion. The wraith had an idea.

As Frost stood upright, clearly in pain, perhaps nursing a fractured rib or two if she was lucky, he stomped towards her and gripped a handful of her hair before she could react. Then he smashed her face into the gears, right at the spot where they converged into one. She shrieked in pain and terror, and flailed to get away, hitting and kicking at him like a mule. Scorpion calmly blocked her, though, and held firm as he watched blood spurt from her face and coat the rotating disks. She blindly swung an ice-charged fist at him in one final attempt to hurt him, but he caught it just as she formed one of her deadly ice balls and jammed it into the gears with a sickening crunch. The loud crackling of freezing metal couldn't overcome Frost's screaming, but it _did _force the saw mechanism to stop just as the blades were about to cut into Sub-Zero's body.

"I don't play to be fair, little girl," he growled at her as her voice died. "I play to win." He finally released her hair and she slumped, dangling by the machine by one crushed and frozen arm. Her face was a mangled, gooey mess streaked with black grease and thick, bloody clumps of ragged skin. Scorpion could sense she still lived, but was, for now, unconscious.

It would have to do. Rain, who'd been stunned stiff by the events of the last few seconds, had already recovered from his shock and was now leaping through the air towards the wraith with his sword poised to chop him in half. Scorpion's katanas were instantly in his hands, and he crossed them in front of him to catch the Hydromancer's attack. Then he swung his arm in a perfect circle, slicing at his opponent's neck, but now it was Rain's turn to block and counter with another attack of his own. The two traded attacks in this fashion for several long moments, but after perhaps thirty seconds had passed, neither had inflicted any damage on the other. If the wraith weren't completely focused and preoccupied on the fight, a battle that unexpectedly required every ounce of his concentration, he might've taken a moment to admire the demigod's skill with the blade. The Edenian was mildly superior to him in swordfighting, and Scorpion had never before even met his equal.

As if further proving his point, Rain finally landed a blow. He swung his arm at the demon warrior in a diagonal arch and cut cleanly and deeply across Scorpion's chest. Little lava waterfalls cascaded from the wound as he stumbled backwards groaning in burning pain. Air was something he no longer required, yet he panicked because he felt like he could no longer breathe, like something heavy was grinding itself into his lungs.

Rain, who saw his opportunity, sheathed his sword before he gracefully leapt into a headstand and sprang into the air using the power of a newly formed geyser to propel him forward. As large drops of water rained upon the pit and extinguished the rest of the fires, the Edenian prince flipped towards his opponent and kicked him in the chest with both feet. More crushing pain filled Scorpion's chest as he crashed into the four prisoners' cages behind him, eliciting a chorus of startled cries from all of them. Relentlessly, the demigod charged after him, this time spraying a high pressure jet of water at his face. The wraith barely had time to throw up another wall of fire before the blast hit him, but the sudden roaring flames caught the water and instantly changed it to steam. The prisoners, however, all squealed in fright at the new inferno right in front of them.

_Enough of this!_ he yelled in his head.

Angrily, Scorpion teleported behind Rain and surprised him with a high roundhouse kick to the face. The Edenian's head snapped back as his body soared into the air. But the demon had no intention of letting him fall without catching him; just as the prince rose upwards, he had released his kunai spear into his chest, waited until the rope tightened completely, and then yanked him back with a violent tug. Now it was Rain's turn to cry out in pain, his thin face contorting as the blade hooked him and reeled him in.

"Come here!" the undead warrior cried inhumanly as he pulled Rain through the wall of fire and over the prisoner's cages like a dog on a leash. He planned on hanging the arrogant prince from the ceiling with it in the hopes the action would inflict a little torture of its own; it was the least the vile man deserved.

Rain, on the other hand, had other plans. He only tolerated Scorpion's abuse for a moment before he had unsheathed his sword and chopped through the rope, instantaneously freeing himself and attacking his enemy. He threw another jet of water towards the wraith, but Scorpion anticipated the action and pivoted to the side before back-flipping into one of his portals. A split second later, he emerged beside the Hydromancer and immediately threw a right, left, and then right punch in rapid succession before the other finally leaned back and dodged the next blow. Undeterred, the demon threw another right hook, but this time Rain curled his bent elbow around his enemy's arm to block him before he slammed his palm directly into his bony mask. More bits of bone crumbled to the floor as his head snapped back.

Scorpion groaned slightly at the heat rising in his jaw and teeth, but he quickly responded with a shot to the Edenian's gut. Rain crumpled slightly, and the wraith promptly used the opening to grab the other's topknot and swing him into the cages. Once more, the prisoners yelped, but the boy, Nightwolf's son, began to cheer words of encouragement.

"Get him!" he yelled. "Kick his butt!"

It distracted Scorpion slightly as he immediately thought of Jubei and hesitated. Rain, ever the opportunist, capitalized on the moment of weakness and charged into him like a train. Swiftly and violently, he shoved him into the table that held Kabal.

"Get me loose!" the Earthrealm warrior cried. "I can help!"

Scorpion barely heard him, though, because he'd already disappeared through a portal and reappeared to Rain's side, lifting him by the waist and throwing him through the air with a roar. The demigod careened into Sub-Zero, who stifled a sudden yelp of pain when his body twisted awkwardly through his cuffs. Fresh blood trickled down his arms as Rain slumped to the floor with a tired groan. Slow to rise, he met his enemy's stare with his lavender eyes.

"You've sunk to a new low, haven't you, ninja?" Rain taunted. "The former Grandmaster of the Shirai Ryu coming to save his blood-sworn enemy. That's got to hurt."

The wraith just glared at him, refusing to dignify that with a response. It didn't hurt as much as the Edenian obviously thought it should. In fact, there was no pain at all.

"What are you even doing here?" the other panted heavily. "Shouldn't you be off hunting Quan Chi in a mad quest for revenge?"

"Not today," Scorpion snarled. "Today, I'm hunting weasels."

With a second wind, Rain charged towards him once more, but this time the wraith stopped him when he kicked him in the groin. The demigod doubled over, straining not to collapse as he heaved with nausea. Scorpion immediately punched him with a right hook that hit him so hard it unhinged his jaw in a loud, dry crack. Blood and teeth flew from the man's mouth as a strangled scream left his throat and he fell onto his side. Though clearly in what had to be agony, he still tried to squirm away, his body squiggling in an 's' shape towards the cages, just like the snake that he was. But the demon was not prepared to let his prey slither down his slimy hole.

Scorpion promptly stomped on Rain's ribs. More snapping and popping sounds filled the air, but were drowned out by his cries of pain. And then, dishonorable coward that he was, he began to beg.

"Scorry-on," he muttered, his breaths coming in ragged and short, his words slurred and barely comprehensible because of his broken jaw. "Pwease. Haf mewcy. Pwease! I'w gif ew anyfing ew want, anyfing at aw. If it's in my power to gif, it's yours. Just name your pwice. What do ew want?"

The undead warrior narrowed his eyes and peered down on his victim in disgust. "I want you to die…_slowly_," he growled in his deepest, most unearthly voice. As Rain whimpered and tried to get away, Scorpion moved to peel off his mask and cowl to reveal his _true_ nature. But just as the furnace inside of him began to belch out scorching flames, he heard a multitude of footsteps trotting down the passageway, rapidly growing louder.

"This way!" a gravelly voice, Baraka's he thought, echoed ahead of the sounds.

Scorpion quickly kicked Rain in the face, knocking him out completely. It wasn't nearly satisfying enough, but incinerating him to ash would've taken too much precious time. His priority was to save the Lin Kuei Grandmaster. He dashed to Kabal with his katanas in his hands and had already used them to break the metal restraints before the man even realized what had happened. Then he teleported to Sub-Zero, not really surprised that Kabal was already there trying to get him down, and chopped the man from his bonds quickly. The Cryomancer dropped to the floor in a heap just as several Zaterran and Tarkatans swarmed through the passage door. At the front of their troupe was Shang Tsung.

Scorpion wasted no time in creating another portal, this one stronger and bigger because it had to transport them much farther. Then he helped Kabal hoist Sub-Zero from the floor, draping one of the man's arms over his shoulder.

"Get…Anya," he said, but Scorpion ignored him and pushed him backwards towards the portal. There was no time to save themselves, plus the prisoners, a point that was clearly lost on the half-dead Grandmaster. The Cryomancer quickly found a new spark of life when it was obvious the wraith had no intention of listening, throwing his arms off either comrade in rage as he tried to march towards the cages. "We're not leaving without her!" he yelled as Shang Tsung began to chuckle.

"Live to fight another day, Frosty," Kabal said as he tugged on the back of his partner's dark blue tunic and stopped him in his tracks.

"No!" he stubbornly yelled as both Scorpion and Kabal each grabbed an arm and yanked him towards the portal. "I'm not leaving without her. Anya!"

"Kuai Liang, go!" she yelled back as she curled her fists around the cage bars. She seemed much better now that he'd been saved from death, for which Scorpion was grateful. It'd make it even harder for the Cryomancer to leave her if she was wailing to be rescued. She must've known that as well because then she admirably cried, "I'll be okay!"

"Get them!" the sorcerer barked at both Reptile and Baraka.

With terrifying grace, speed, and precision, the Zaterran leapt through the air at them as the horde charged forward screaming war cries. But by the time any of them reached the portal, it was already gone, and with it, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, and Kabal.


	32. Angels and Demons

Shrill alarms rang in Smoke's ears as his internal screens blinked on, though the pictures were blurred and erratic because half his helmet had somehow melted completely through, ruining them. They were superfluous anyway, so the damage didn't bother him. His exposed eye helplessly looked at the ceiling while his dry mouth took in ragged breaths. When Drahmin's metal ball slammed into his chest, it had crushed his main computer and battery, which had violently electrocuted him, forcing him to shut down. His auxiliary life support systems had kicked on, but not until five minutes had passed. Sektor could repair him now, he knew, but…it felt…_weird_. He didn't think he even _needed_ to be repaired to stay functional.

He felt dizzy.

Several Zaterrans and Tarkatans walked by him carrying Rain and Frost on stretchers, paying his damaged body no mind, instead focusing on the fight that had just occurred in the torture pit between Scorpion and the others. Scorpion. Yes, it seemed he'd rescued Sub-Zero as well as the other warrior, Kabal. Smoke slowly craned his head towards the cages, noting that he hadn't taken the people there as well. He cocked his head curiously, feeling something strange inside of him as he looked at the prisoners. It wasn't anything physical, but something buried deep below. He thought it was frustration, or perhaps even anger. But how? And more importantly, at what?

_Why didn't Scorpion save them too?_ a voice whispered to him in response.

With a grunt, he shoved the heavy ball off his plate armor, and found to his surprise that as it rolled away, it left no pain behind even though his chest cavity was slightly concave now and pierced at points by the vicious spikes. Closing his eyes and slightly arching his back, his heavily armored hands drifted to the spot to feel the damage, but found that the delicate sensors built into the tips of his fingers weren't working properly. They registered the exact angles of the damage, and how many centimeters they were from certain organs, but they wouldn't tell him how it _felt_. In what was now clear frustration, he yanked the cybernetic glove from the hand that _didn't_ have a small armory built inside, breaking the wires and ignoring the subsequent sparks that protested the action, and exposed those fingers for the first time in nearly two years. The air felt hot and humid on his skin.

Smoke weakly waved his bare hand before his face, fluttering his fingers curiously before his eye as if he'd forgotten how to move them. They were ghastly white and slightly atrophied, but they were _his_. Tears sprang to his eyes as he studied every dip and curve, every contour of every knuckle.

"Tomas?" he heard a voice ask timidly from nearby.

He slowly swiveled his head towards it, his neck armor's mechanisms whirring shrilly as he moved. His eye focused on the cages, dismissing the woman called Jade – the closest one to him – and stared immediately at the woman called Annalise.

_My __pr̆ítel_.

His friend. Perhaps the only friend he had anymore. Though, that was silly. She wasn't his friend. She was his charge. He'd been ordered to stand guard over her. He knew it, she knew it, and there was nothing amicable about it. Yet, she strained hard to reach him when she shoved her arm as far through the bars as she could in an effort to give him her hand, a profound look of concern stamped onto her face. It was an expression only a friend could have.

Smoke said nothing as he looked at her hand in as much curiosity as he had his own. It was dirty, but it looked plump and soft. He wanted to touch it. He'd forgotten what real human skin felt like. He ignored the angry squeal of his malfunctioning armor as he stretched his arm towards her hand and rested his palm on top of hers. With a sigh of relief, she squeezed her fingers tightly around his and then sniffled as silent tears streaked down her cheeks. Why? The cyber-ninja was alive. He wasn't even hurt. Not really. And he felt…_better_.

"I think you're an angel," he said hoarsely to her, though he wasn't sure why. The thought had left as quickly and mysteriously as it had come.

"Well, isn't this sweet?" Shang Tsung said as he towered above him. "Sektor, I do believe your lieutenant has grown a heart."

Smoke looked up at him in bewilderment. His thoughts were so cloudy, so unfocused. He didn't understand what the sorcerer meant. He winced again, feeling a surge of energy tickle his brain as his main computer servers suddenly tried to reboot, even though they were badly damaged.

_Fight it!_

Now Sektor stood over him. "Unit LK-7T2, upload your status to my neural network," he ordered. Smoke sensed he was supposed to link his computer to his Grandmaster's. As if in response, his servers tried to obey. They flickered on momentarily before dying again.

_Fight it!_

"That's not his name!" Annalise Anderson yelped angrily from her cage. "Stop calling him that!"

A name, a name…why was it so important to have a name? Who cared if it was a word or a number? Why couldn't he just be content to feel the texture of her hand, to remember the way the skin there folded almost imperceptibly to form whorls and ridges, palm and fingerprints? Shang Tsung had them, and so did Jade, and so did Annalise, and so did he. They were a person's real name, weren't they? Smoke took his hand back to double-check. He had to be sure. More hot, stinging tears filled his eyes when he studied his hand again and saw faint grooves and circles break up the deeper, straighter ones cutting through his palm. Tight ovals even spiraled at the tips of his fingers. He clamped them into a fist and held them to his heart as a tear slipped down his temple. His hand belonged to _him_.

"These are my fingers," he muttered. He lifted his hand to his Grandmaster and to the sorcerer to show them. "I can feel with them," he babbled. "I can feel."

"Unit LK-7T2, _upload_ _your status to my neural network_," Sektor repeated in agitation. Smoke understood the command, but though his auxiliary computer tried to obey, he refused to let it.

"I will not," he said as he rested his hand on his chest, enjoying the sensation of the dip from the injury on his palm. "And that is _not_ my name."

"You are malfunctioning, LK-7T2," the red cyber-ninja countered. "You will accompany me so that I might repair you." It wasn't a request. Sektor aimed one of his wrist rocket launchers at Smoke's face to coerce his cooperation.

The damaged cyber-ninja stared up the deep barrel and suddenly saw in the darkness a tiny little boy barely older than three looking at a book full of colorful pictures of saints. His mother, a blond woman named Ava, held him in his lap and cooed affectionately into his ear until he came to a page with a print of a very old painting; according to her, the man featured on it was St. Thomas Aquinas.

_This is your namesake. He was called the Angel Doctor because the angels were always with him. Just like you. The angels are always with you, sweet Tomas. And that is how, like him, I know you're going to do great things._

Anger burned through Smoke now as he saw Sektor's rocket launcher yet again. A name. He needed his name because his mother had given it to him, because it told the universe who he was, it gave him his unique identity, and the red cyber-ninja had done everything in his power to strip it from him. He wanted it back.

"My name is Tomas," he said defiantly. "And I'm not going anywhere with you ever again, Sektor." With that, he vanished in a puff of smoke that roiled through the cracks in the cobblestone floor.

* * *

"You son of a bitch!" Kuai Liang hollered as the three warriors emerged in a petrified forest miles away. "You take me back right now so I can get Anya!"

"You're welcome," Scorpion growled at him as he stalked towards the nearest tree, rubbing his exposed jaw bone.

"Well, look who it is," a familiar voice chirped. The Cryomancer whirled around weakly to see Himavat standing with his arms crossed beside a small campfire. He glared at both Sub-Zero and Kabal. "It's Tweedle-Dumb and Tweedle-Dumber."

"Go get her," he commanded the Elder God. Though he still felt decidedly weak and tired from the effects of the cobalt cuffs, his rage was rapidly renewing his strength. "_Now_."

"I can't," Himavat argued. "That would be too much interference. The consequences almost certainly would be catastrophic. And besides which, I was helping her a lot more than I should have. If my sisters found out-"

Sub-Zero couldn't take it anymore. With a ferocious roar, the wounded Cryomancer tried to tackle the Elder God, only to be grabbed by a bloody wrist and thrown head-first into a tree. He groaned and leaned against the stony bark as he glared at his ancestor. "Yeah, you've been helping her so well," he snarled, his normally expressionless face a contorted red mess of fury. "Do you even know what they've done to her? What they're _still _doing to her? So don't pretend you've done a damn thing to help her!"

"Hey, Frosty," Kabal began, "maybe you shouldn't be talking to an Elder-"

"Shut up," he snapped at his partner as he raised an ice charged fist. It felt good to let his powers run free. He didn't feel nearly the usual energy within, but Kabal didn't have to know that. "If I didn't still need your help, I'd have killed you by now. She _trusted _you, and you abandoned her. And you made me abandon her too."

"We're no good to her dead, Kuai Liang," he said gently as he looked to the ground. "My sister is still back there too, you know."

"My dear grandson, please listen," Himavat began as he knelt beside him and pushed his wrist down. "I understand your frustration as if it were my own," he said.

"Like _hell_ you do," he growled back. Kuai Liang didn't understand why he felt so out of control, and worse, was losing his mind because of his feelings. He'd always been an emotional person – it was one of his worst shortcomings according to his father and Grandmaster Oniro – but he'd trained himself to at least contain it within where no one else could see it. No one but Anya, that was. He trembled with rage at the thought of her still with Rain, who had made it abundantly clear he would hurt her without a second thought just to accomplish his goals. And worse, Kuai Liang had _led _her to that fate and then abandoned her when she needed him the most.

As if reading his mind, Himavat looked on him with his peaceful almond eyes and said, "I think you're angrier at yourself than you are at me. You keep telling yourself that if only you'd listened to her about Frost, none of this would've happened. But the truth is that Frost is like a pit bull. When she detects a threat against her, she will not stop attacking that threat until it's dead. And even then, you have to pry her jaws apart with a crowbar. It just so happened that the day Anya left the temple, Frost saw her opportunity and took it. She knew you'd never just stand by and let her kill the poor girl. And Anya didn't stand a chance."

"I can't breathe," the Cryomancer replied wearily as he slumped beside the fire.

"You need to calm down," he said as he gave him a canteen full of ice-cold water. Sub-Zero drank it down greedily, not realizing just how thirsty he felt until then.

When he'd swallowed almost all of the water in the canteen, he looked at the Elder God, who was now gently resting his hands on his descendant's shoulders. "Himavat, I need to know everything. Please. What this ritual that Quan Chi's performing?"

The god smiled. "That's the Kuai Liang I was expecting! The fighter!" He tousled the Earthrealm warrior's filthy, bloody hair. "Pull up a chair, this is going to be good."

* * *

Lost in the wilderness, far from the pit and from all enemy soldiers, Smoke decided he couldn't breathe. He had expended every trace of his auxiliary power to teleport from the dungeon, found himself on the slopes of a jagged, black mountain roiling with smoke, and hadn't stopped running since. The exertion had sorely taxed his lungs, but that wasn't really why he collapsed choking onto a pile of smoldering rocks. His helmet…it felt like it had been scooping in hot air and toxic fumes, and then shoving them down his throat. He felt tremendous pressure, like walls closing in on his head, and he struggled for any extra shred of oxygen he could get.

The helmet had to go.

Impulsively, his fingers – his _bare _ones – fumbled at the latches at the base of his neck, but to no avail. His helmet had been secured to his suit with thick screws. The men who'd shoved him into it had used special hydraulic drills to fasten it down, and without any such equipment at his disposal, he knew he wouldn't get it off by himself.

With a faint grunt, Smoke gripped one of the half-melted edges on his visor, and yanked. Brittle, it snapped away easily. He liked the texture of the broken plastic under his thumb; it sent pleasant shivers down his spine as his brain vaguely tried to associate it with memories from before. Nothing immediately sprang to mind. Even still, he felt strange gratification regardless simply by breaking his helmet from his head, not only because the sharp edges intrigued him, but because he could breathe once more.

In fact, he felt so gratified by the action that when he'd finally broke most of his helmet off, and drew deeper, less constricted breaths, he continued picking at his body armor, happily yanking on non-critical plates and wires to uncover his flesh. He watched intently as his hand's nakedness gradually expanded to his shoulder. Bright dots of red from where he'd ripped out anchor wires spotted his snow-white skin. Trails of blood gently oozed down his arm from those spots, but quickly dried into clots.

Suddenly, Smoke's main computer processor, which had been built into his ribcage above his auxiliary one, switched on and began ripping data from his logs. He knew Sektor had wirelessly accessed his controls. He tried to resist, but it issued a single, punishing shock to his heart. He gasped and doubled over in pain as the red cyber-ninja worked furiously to re-establish control of his functions. In seconds, the main CPU sent electrical impulses through the neural cables in his spine to his brain, and in his ocular implants he saw the words: UNIT LK-7T2 MALFUNCTIONING…REPORT TO SEKTOR IMMEDIATELY. The message blared at Smoke in urgent, red light, and just as he felt annoyed that his Grandmaster hadn't used his name, Tomas, to address him, his brain shut down. His senses dulled as his body relaxed, and he obediently got to his feet.

Smoke turned to walk up the mountain once more, following the homing beacon Sektor had activated so he could find his way back to the Outworld denizens, but as he moved he caught sight of a petrified forest at the bottom of the mountain. He stopped.

_Fight it!_

REPORT TO SEKTOR IMMEDIATELY. The message blared angrily now.

Smoke, caught between both commands, did not know which one to obey. So he stood helplessly on the charred rocks, impotent, and kept swiveling his head between the summit and the forest. But something about the towering, petrified trees below called to him. It was a peculiar itching in his brain that wanted to be scratched, and though his computer told him it was illogical, Smoke felt certain that the forest would help him find his way again. Something or someone who could help him was there, waiting for him to arrive.

Then he shook his head to banish the thought. His CPU was right; it _was _illogical.

His thinking had been erratic since Drahmin's ball crushed him. The violent electrical surges from the damage he sustained had clearly corrupted his neural pathways, therefore Sektor had been right: he was malfunctioning. He needed to be repaired.

Smoke placated the Grandmaster's wireless commands and climbed up the mountain once more. His heavy, cybernetic boots felt steadier than they had since the dungeon battle. Yet, as they carried him past a deep, burning chasm cut by a river of lava, they inexplicably stopped. Puzzled, the cyber-ninja tried to move but couldn't. It wasn't that there was any physical damage, he ascertained, it was just that they refused to take another step forward.

Quizzically, Smoke glanced around. The nearly vertical rock faces plummeted toward the lava in a familiar way. It resembled the same treacherous gorge in the Himalayas near the old Lin Kuei temple, though the one he stared at now was hellish and raging. It was like an evil version of the one from his memory.

_Throw yourself in just like you did to your daughter._

He blinked. The thought had been like a slap in the face that broke him from his single-minded logic.

REPORT TO SEKTOR IMMEDIATELY.

But he ignored the command for the moment and looked at his hands for some inexplicable reason. One was naked and the other was cybernetic, and while both were caked in a fair share of dirt, the latter was far more vile and disgusting in his eyes. His bare hand had never thrown newborn babies off a cliff like garbage. The cybernetic one had. And worse, it had done it to his _own_ child. Once, not so long ago, Smoke remembered he had wanted children more than anything, if for no other reason than to be to them what the Lin Kuei hadn't for him. He had always loved kids – he perpetually felt twelve, even as an adult – because he admired their optimism and wonder. With children, anything, no matter how insane or improbable, was possible as long as you believed it. But when the moment came and Smoke had been granted his one wish, he'd just…thrown it away. Like trash.

_She didn't even have a name._

He had deprived her an identity, just like Sektor had done to him. Denying her an identity was announcing that she never even existed. It made him as equally monstrous, and he winced as he realized he was no better than his Tekunin Grandmaster. But though he couldn't wind back the hands of time and undo his sins, he could at least acknowledge her being. He would give her a name. A _special_ name.

"Ava," he said aloud. "Your name is Ava. And the angels are always with you."

REPORT TO SEKTOR IMMEDIATELY.

As he stood on the precipice, Smoke looked at his hands once more, and as he studied the unique swirls and ridges, he imaged what Ava would've been like had he not murdered her. He pictured a little girl with long, wavy white hair pinned at the sides by brilliantly colored butterfly barrettes. In his daydream, she was rambunctiously hopping on her bed, clutching a stuffed bunny – a bunny because she, like he, had a curious fondness for rabbits – and her yellow summer dress billowing as she rose and fell. In his mind's eye, Ava looked just like an angel.

At the thought, Smoke collapsed to his knees and began to sob. _Oh, God, what have I done?_ He buried his grief-stricken face in both hands.

UNIT LK-7T2, REPORT TO SEKTOR IMMEDIATELY.

_My name is Tomas_.

A sudden shock to his heart stifled his guilty hysterics, forcing him to collapse onto all fours in crushing agony. The jolts of power bit and ripped at his muscles from the inside out, and he clutched handfuls of rocky soil as he writhed and groaned and prayed for it to end quickly. Death was the _least_ he deserved, but he welcomed it all the same.

UNIT LK-7T2-

"_My name is Tomas!_" he shrieked as he pounded the ground with his fists.

With cold fury, another electrical shock surged through him, this one more powerful than the last, and his brain threw him onto the verge of having a seizure. As his back violently arched towards the sky and spit frothed from his mouth, his auxiliary life support computer blared warnings at him that cardiac arrest was imminent.

* * *

"What do you know of the Elements?" Himavat asked.

"Earth, Air, Fire, and Water," Kabal blurted out.

"Well, that's partly correct," Himavat replied, looking at him. "There _are _the _physical_ elements, and I'm not even going to discuss what you humans call the Periodic _Table_ of the Elements, but what I'm referring to is more than that. There are Five Elements total: Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, and _Spirit_. Everything in nature, even inanimate objects, has some unique blend of these Elements inside of them. The _true _Elements aren't just words to describe natural phenomena; they're a special energy, essences that carry with them the traits and qualities of the substance they stand for. For example, Water is a powerful energy. Adaptable, mutable, it fills up the empty spaces in the world, and it has such tenacity and stubbornness that it will spend thousands of years gradually gnawing at one rock. But its determination is rewarded because eventually, it will have reduced that rock to sand. These energies are all found in people."

"What does this have to do with anything?" Kuai Liang asked impatiently.

"When the Elder Gods decided to create the universe, there was an unexpected explosion, the result of trying to put too much power through one tiny outlet. Now when you blend together all our powers into one, it creates what is called Spirit. It's what gives us our…godliness for a lack of a better word, our divinity. Spirit is what makes a glorified Ziploc baggie full of water, mixed with a bunch of dirt, something more divine, something with a soul.

"But the Elements are unevenly distributed. The explosion was asymmetrical, so as a result, some creatures have more of one inside them than others. However, that being said, there have been mortals who come along every now and then who have nearly all of one inside of them. They're called Elementals. They don't usually have any powers unless they come from a race that is blessed with gifts, but in terms of magic, their souls are extremely potent. It's almost god-like power. But Elementals are typically very rare, so to have more than one every several thousand years is a miraculous thing.

"So the Dragon King, who was obsessed with Elementals and spent much of his reign hunting them down, gathered his army and put a spell on them that would hide them away until his return. And to ensure the wrong hands didn't undo his spells, he designed a special lock for their tomb with the darkest and most ancient of magic."

"So, let me guess," Kuai Liang began. "Anya's the key to the lock."

Himavat smiled. "Not quite, no. But she's part of the equation."

"What do you mean?"

"Anya's a Water Elemental, my grandson," he replied. "And Jade is a Fire Elemental. Sherman is an Air Elemental. And Khadija is an Earth Elemental."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Kabal interrupted as he formed a 't' with his hands. "Time out! You just told us that these people are extremely rare."

"They are," Himavat agreed. "Imagine our surprise when the Fates told us they planned to send not just one, but _four _into the world! Of course, knowing the implications of such an event, my brother, sisters, and I have spent our days watching our…progeny if you will. We knew this day was meant to come. And it has, in spite of my attempts to sabotage it."

"What does this mean?" Scorpion asked gruffly.

Himavat looked at him. "There are four Elementals in the universe right now, and they all carry within them the near perfect essence of their particular substance. When magically meshed together, these four individuals will create the fifth Element, Spirit, and that's the key that opens the Dragon King's lock."

"So what's with lumping them together?" Kabal asked pointedly. "All the Elementals, interestingly enough, are all related to Raiden's champions in one way or another. That seems like an awfully big coincidence, don't you think?" The anger creeping into his voice was unmistakable.

Sub-Zero and Scorpion both thought his question had merit, so they exchanged a look and then both stared at the Elder God sternly. "He's got a point," the Cryomancer said.

"He does," Himavat agreed. "It was no coincidence. When we learned how many Elementals would be alive at this point in time, the other Elder Gods and I decided to bring them close to Raiden's champions."

"That was really stupid of you," Kabal hissed. "The rest of our families are dead because of that! And here we were, thinking it was because of _us_. But it wasn't, was it, Himavat? It was my sister and his girlfriend," he gestured to Sub-Zero. "And it was because of Nightwolf's son and Kitana's BFF. Our families are dead because of these four!"

"Not entirely, no," Himavat argued. "It _was _partially you as well. Quan Chi wanted to take you out of the game. He thought that killing your families would wreak such emotional destruction on you that you'd no longer be the threat you were last year."

"This is beyond fucked up," he snapped. "Johnny, and Stryker, and Jax, and Sonya. I mean, their families were completely innocent." He glared at Sub-Zero. "And I don't know how Captain Cold-snap here has gotten off so lucky."

Kuai Liang scowled back, but inwardly he sighed. He knew Kabal was right. It hadn't been fair that his family lived while everyone else's was gone. "Himavat, why _did _you lump them so close together?" he asked his ancestor.

"Who better to look after the rarest treasures in the universe than Raiden's champions?" He nodded his head. "Plus, I saw the perfect opportunity to keep an eye on both you _and_ Anya. I have a personal investment in both of you. I did everything in my power to bring you two together."

"Why?"

"Well, to end that stupid feud between my descendants, for one," he answered matter-of-factly. "But for two, you needed each other, and because you can keep each other safe from the real villains of the world."

"But we didn't!" he argued. "I failed her. Quan Chi's going to use her to raise an army. She's the furthest thing from safe right now…"

"I know, and that's because I hadn't counted on Frost showing up and throwing a monkey-wrench into my plans. And my plan would've worked too except Quan Chi struck at us from the inside. Bringing her in to do his dirty work? Brilliant on so many levels. Brilliant and evil."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that it's difficult for Quan Chi and his stooges to enter mine and Raiden's Realm without being detected on the spot. He knows he's only got one shot at it, so he finds the one person in all of Earthrealm with the biggest ax to grind against its warriors, especially against one, and turns her loose."

"Me," he said.

"You," he agreed. "Unfortunately for the rest of us, she's very good at her job."

But that leads me to my next point. You wanted to know how I've been helping her, Kuai Liang? I've kept her alive when she crashed. True, part of that was her own healing ability, but just as I raised Tomas from the dead that day you both were caught in the landslide, I breathed life into her and kept her afloat by the mere sound of my voice."

Kuai Liang swallowed hard, fighting tears of exhaustion, rage, and self-loathing. "Thank you," he croaked.

"That wasn't the end of it. I wiped away Quan Chi's magic spell. Of course, I did this for all of the prisoners. Unfortunately, it's not an instantaneous thing. It's going to take time, but they'll all eventually remember their loved ones," the Elder God explained.

The Cryomancer exhaled a shaky breath of relief. Now Anya just had to live long enough. He didn't know whether to cross himself, throw himself at Himavat's feet, or what. But whatever proper etiquette dictated in this situation, it couldn't adequately show how thankful he felt inside that their life to that point wasn't permanently gone.

Suddenly, they heard the loud snap of a petrified tree branch breaking, followed by heavy thuds stomping erratically towards them. Instantly, Sub-Zero, Scorpion, and Kabal were on their feet and ready to fight. Himavat, however, had already disappeared. The demon wraith, the healthiest amongst the three at the moment, darted ahead into the trees with the Cryomancer on his heels, leaving the detective to guard the fire. Both ninjas blended into the shadows and waited silently until they saw the source of the noise; a tall figure obscured by darkness staggered through the forest and headed straight towards them.

Sub-Zero looked at Scorpion, and an unspoken plan passed between them. They intended to let the stranger pass by before they attacked him from behind. Within seconds, the man stumbled between the trees, straight towards Kabal and the fire. Though the detective no longer had his hook swords – the Zaterrans had confiscated them when they took him captive – he still found a long, petrified stick that would suffice as a weapon for now. But the Cryomancer immediately recognized one of Sektor's cyber-ninjas, though he was oddly without his helmet and much of his armor. He must've been wounded in battle or something.

It didn't matter. Angrily, Sub-Zero lunged at the automaton before Scorpion could, anxious to deal some payback and pain to someone today. He grabbed the cyber-ninja by the back of his neck, slid his arm around his throat, and yanked him backwards before he flung him into a petrified tree. But then he saw the eerily exposed face and realized what he'd done. Immediately, he launched himself towards the man and knelt before him, studying him intently since he offered no signs of fight.

His helmet had been broken off, but jagged bits of plastic jutted out from the metal collar where they fastened to his suit, and it seemed as if someone had ripped off all the armor on one arm. All the little holes from the damage had wept little, but together they still managed to coat most of his arm with blood. But the Cryomancer couldn't take his eyes off the cyber-ninja's face. For one, it was much thinner than he remembered it; his cheeks were hollow and his eyelids black. But the skin of it was ghostly white from a lack of sunlight, and a couple of tiny wires had been threaded through his eyes at the inner corners and hung down loosely over his cheeks to frayed ends. The eyes themselves were pale blue now where once they had been the brightest gray, though the whites were red and the skin around them puffy and damp, indicating he'd been…crying.

"Kuai Liang?" he croaked in a barely audible voice. It was scratchy and hoarse. "Is that you?"

The Cryomancer steadied the cyber-ninja's drooping head with his palm, pressing his hand against the other's scalp behind his ear. Where once his hair had been kind of long and almost weightless, it was now shaved nearly to the skull. Still, Sub-Zero would recognize that stark white color like snow anywhere. He blinked back tears of his own as he nodded. "Yes, Tomas, it's me. I'm here."

Fresh tears streamed down his old friend's face as he looked into his eyes pleadingly. "Kill me," he begged. And then he slumped over, unconscious.


	33. The Smoke Clears

Tomas lay on his back, still completely unconscious but drawing shallow and steady breaths. He'd clearly suffered widespread damage when Drahmin's metal ball crashed into him. Holes about a half-inch in diameter perforated his mesh breastplate, and a slightly concave shape deformed his chest. That was to say nothing of the armor that had clearly been ripped off. Kuai Liang strongly suspected _that_ was self-inflicted damage. He knelt on one knee beside his friend, studying him in silence and deep reverie, unable to get over how _strange _Tomas looked now, how alien.

"He is _not_ a shape-shifter," Scorpion growled at Kabal, his voice slightly more demonic than usual. "A shape-shifter would've reverted back to his original form when he passed out."

"It could be an act. How do we _know_ he's really passed out?" Kabal asked pointedly. "I think it's Shang Tsung trying to trick us."

"It's not," a deep voice boomed around them right before a crack of lightning zapped the dirt beside the campfire. When the brilliant light receded, Raiden stood before them. "That is, in fact, the real Tomas Vrbada."

As he spoke, a portal crackling with electricity twisted open and promptly dumped the rest of Earthrealm's warriors onto the ground before them. If Sub-Zero had been looking, he'd have seen their angry glares directed at him, boring holes into the back of his head as they flocked around Kabal and demanded an update. Kuai Liang, however, never took his eyes off Tomas, so he didn't notice their chatter and stray looks, nor did he care.

Raiden cared, however. While the others spoke quietly, he knelt beside the Cryomancer and growled, "You may truly think of yourself as a lone wolf, Sub-Zero, but you're not. You're a part of this team, and your teammates deserve the best you have to offer. I understand you two idiots nearly died, and if it weren't for Himavat sending Scorpion to rescue you, I'd be down two of my Champions now. Where would that leave your comrades? Where would that leave _humanity_? Your team should've been brought in the moment you had new information, not left in the dark. You owe them more respect than that."

"Do I look like I'm in the mood for a sermon?" he said flatly. "Get over it."

"There is no place on this team for any quests for personal glory!" the thunder god yelled as he jumped to his feet. Tiny bolts of lightning burst from his eyes in a shrill crackle, and thunder boomed in the distance.

Threatened now and angry, Sub-Zero leapt to his feet and glared into Raiden's electric blue eyes. "It wasn't for glory," he hissed, slowly summoning his icy powers to his fists. He'd had enough of the immortals manipulating the universe and ruining his life. "I figured I'd have better success if less people were involved. Namely you."

"And how successful were you, exactly?" the other asked pointedly.

"At least I was doing something rather than sitting on my hands," he countered. "It's more than I can say for you." He scowled. "What exactly is _your_ role in all of this, Raiden? What exactly do you do besides let us make sacrifices for you? You disgust me. Just like every other god mankind has known. Letting your 'flock' fight wars, die, bury family, all in the name of _your_ cause. It makes me sick."

"Careful, Cryomancer," the thunder god growled with equal contempt. "You're forgetting your place."

Sub-Zero raised an eyebrow. "And what will you do to me if I don't play along like a good little believer? Smite me? Kick me off your little team?"

"There are fates worse than that in the universe," Raiden threatened.

"Then do one of them already," he snapped. "Otherwise, get the hell away from me."

Raiden started to say something, but Kuai Liang stormed towards Cyrax before he could get the words out.

"Grandmaster," the yellow cyber-ninja greeted as he held his hand to his heart and half-bowed.

"Cyrax," he greeted back. "I need you to see what you can do to fix Smoke. I think there's something wrong with his computers. I also think he's got his free will back."

"That seems incredibly unlikely. Not on his own, especially without our intervention."

"I know. Do what you can."

"Yes, Grandmaster." He followed Sub-Zero to Tomas' sleeping body. "How is he even alive?" the cyber-ninja wondered aloud as both men knelt beside their old comrade.

"Good luck, I suppose," Sub-Zero replied.

"No, that is not what I mean," Cyrax said. "We do not wear our helmets and armor merely to protect our heads and bodies. It is called biologic nanoweave armor and we have a symbiotic relationship with it. The nanite technology that makes it work makes the armor reshape itself on impact so that it better distributes the shock of any amount of kinetic energy. It tremendously enhances our natural strength as well as our ability to take damage. But it also makes our immune systems superior so that we do not get sick with infection. It keeps us from aging and our organs from wearing out. In theory, we can live hundreds of years because of it."

"So is that why it's a bad thing that Smoke took half of his off?"

"No. The nanites get their nourishment from components in our blood stream as well as our bodies' bacteria, but they use our bodies' natural electrical systems to function. The wires that hold the plates and helmet into place also serve as conduits to funnel that power directly from our nerve bundles to them. Eventually, this creates a circuit, and our bodies become completely dependent on the armor. Our voluntary and involuntary processes – respiration, urination, heartbeat – would cease to function without the armor telling our bodies what to do. It is almost like a second brain. We can survive if only a small part is removed, but if our armor is damaged to the extent Smoke's is, our bodies would cease to function. So I want to know how Smoke got around that. He should be dead." He pressed a segment of the damaged armor, prompting a cover to swing open and revealing his small chest computer.

Kuai Liang frowned at the cyber-ninja and then at his friend. "I suppose that _is_ pretty lucky," he admitted softly, wondering how long Tomas, if what Cyrax said was true, could live without his armor.

"There is no such thing as luck, Grandmaster," Cyrax said matter-of-factly as a coaxial cable slowly emerged from his index finger tip. He promptly plugged the end into Tomas' now-exposed computer. "It is a matter of statistics. As time passes, it becomes increasingly probable that something positive, however unlikely, will occur. Knowing your recent propensity for trouble, tragedy, and disaster, it is probable that it was time to receive good news."

The Cryomancer raised his eyebrow in annoyance. "Oh, switch off, will you?" he snapped. In spite of his restored free-will, Cyrax still sounded remarkably robotic, and at times his pure, unadulterated logic stepped on Sub-Zero's last nerve.

Unlike a robot, however, the cyber-ninja understood his Grandmaster's agitation and promptly switched subjects. "Smoke _has_ suffered from cardiac arrest," he announced, forcing the other to furrow his eyebrows in worry. "Sektor triggered it, though, not the nanites. That is part of the reason for his weakened state."

The Cryomancer looked at Tomas and felt as worried for him as he did Anya. God, how cruel would it be to get his best friend, his _brother_, back only to watch him die the same day? Without realizing he did it, he gripped the man's gloveless hand and watched Cyrax study the erratically flickering computer screen.

"Hey, Frosty," Kabal began as he knelt on the other side of Smoke, "how's your friend doing?"

"He was crushed by a giant ball and had a heart attack," Sub-Zero replied impatiently. "How would _you_ be?"

The detective quickly cleared his throat. "Okay, how are _you_ doing?"

"I'm fine."

"Come on, man, you're pretty torn up. Let Stryker take a look at you. He brought the mother of all first-aid kits to the party. And he needs something to do. It'd make his day if-"

"I'm _fine_," he repeated in annoyance. He didn't care if he had a knife wound to the stomach and a flail chest again. Kabal had betrayed him when he dragged him through the portal rather than letting him save Anya. Prisoner extraction. That was the whole reason they were there in the first place. The cop knew it and had stopped him anyway. So as far as Sub-Zero was concerned, he could go to hell.

"His Slaving Protocols are still trying to take over," Cyrax reported. "I can program a virus to attack them and shut them down."

"Then do it."

The yellow cyber-ninja half-shrugged and knelt over the CPU, tapping a couple of buttons before his patient's eyes suddenly snapped open with panic and terror. He screamed and then flung his arm at all the men around him, knocking them all backwards a few feet with impossible strength before he flopped onto his belly and began to army-crawl away. While his first cry had been an ear-piercing shriek, the subsequent ones that escaped him were frightened grunts.

"No! I won't go back! I won't!" he raved like a lunatic as he tried to get away.

"Tomas, stop!" Kuai Liang groaned lowly as his old rib injury protested the powerful blow. He was slow to roll to his knees.

Cyrax, who recovered first, pounced on Smoke's leg, prompting him to boot the cyber-ninja's visor repeatedly with the other one. By that point, Kabal had jumped on it, though hadn't expected to have to hold on for dear life while the gray cyber-ninja's leg slung him around violently. The Cryomancer tackled his friend outright and almost had him pinned to the dirt, his ice-charged palm ready to knock him out, when the latter quickly rolled halfway onto his back and slammed him into the ground. Then, for an added touch, Tomas elbowed him in the jaw.

Blinding pain burst through Sub-Zero's face as stars and involuntary tears filled his vision. "Jax!" he called for help, but there was no need. Jax, Johnny, and Nightwolf were already on top of Smoke while Stryker was fumbling through his bag medical bag for something.

"I'm not going back!" Smoke continued shrieking over and over.

"Man, somebody shut him up before every Tarkatan in Outworld knows our location!" Jax yelled.

"What the hell, is he on PCP or something?" Johnny grunted as he worked to twist Smoke's bare hand behind his back.

The action seemed to frighten Tomas even more, and with a new surge of strength he pushed himself onto all fours and bucked the men from his back. He dragged Cyrax and Kabal along with him as he plodded towards the mountains, but Sub-Zero leapt onto him once again. This time, however, he punched him in the back of the head before he fiercely threaded both arms through his friend's and then clasped his hands together at the nape of Smoke's skull, locking them in place. The cyber-ninja struggled to throw him off too, but the Cryomancer held on, even when he tried to roll again and crush him on the ground.

"Any time now, Stryker," he groaned as Tomas kept flopping into him to force him to relent. He wished he could get a hand free long enough to pump his cold power into his friend's shoulder to knock him out.

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Sonya muttered impatiently as she dug into her deep cargo pants and yanked out a small box. Inside were two pre-filled syringes full of clear liquid. She quickly pulled one out, stomped towards the brawl, and plunged the substance directly into his bare bicep before he realized she was there.

"No! No!" he squealed in short, terrified breaths.

At first, nothing happened. But within thirty seconds, he swayed on his knees and then collapsed. His body relaxed as Kuai Liang crawled out from beneath him and pressed his shoulder down just in case.

"Please," he was babbling incoherently.

"Tomas!" he yelled impatiently as he sat on his friend's chest and slapped his cheek. "Tomas! Snap out of it. It's me, Kuai Liang. Cyrax is going to fix you."

"No! Don't fix me," the other whined as the tears streamed down his cheeks and temples in gushing torrents.

"What on earth did you give him, Sonya?" Kabal demanded to know.

"Morphine," she said matter-of-factly. "My field stash. The Baconator was taking too damn long doing whatever the fuck it was he was gonna do."

"Looking for some Valium," Stryker grunted as he found what he was looking for. He clutched a bottle of pills in his hand and dumped a couple into his palm, handing them to the Cryomancer.

"I hope I don't get my leg blown off or break a bone, now, Sergeant Pork-Butt," the Army Ranger hissed at him.

Kuai Liang was only half-listening to their discussion. Tomas' mechanical blue eyes didn't even recognize him, he thought. He didn't waste time asking him to take the medicine. He promptly shoved the pills down his throat and held his mouth firmly shut. As expected, the cyber-ninja slapped his hands on the ground and shook his head violently to get free, but the Grandmaster refused to budge until he felt the man swallow. Then he gripped the sides of Tomas' face and steadied his panicked thrashing, prompting the other to grip the tops of his hands with his.

"Tomas. Tomas! Look at me. Look at me. _Look at me_." Finally, the man obeyed and looked up at him, the tears still gushing from his cheeks. "Nobody's going to hurt you anymore, okay? Nobody's trying to automate you again. Trust me, my _pr̆ítel_. Do you hear me?"

Smoke drew a ragged breath and then wordlessly nodded his understanding.

"Good. Now, Cyrax is going to take a look at you, okay? Do you remember Cyrax?"

The other looked towards the yellow cyber-ninja, who was now on his knees at Smoke's feet. "Yes," he whispered.

"He's not going to program you. But he _is_ going to run a program that will destroy your Slaving Protocols and sever your link to Sektor. Okay?"

Smoke didn't say anything for the longest moment, and the Cryomancer was about to repeat his statement when he finally responded. "Okay," he replied almost inaudibly.

Now Kuai Liang looked at his comrades. "Everyone back up," he barked. "Give him some room."

"Is that a good idea, Ice Man?" Jax asked. It was a fair question.

"Yeah," he answered. "Cyrax and I will stay by him in case…" He trailed off. He didn't want to say _in case we fail_. "It'll be fine," he said. He glanced down at Tomas and then climbed off his chest slowly. A glassy expression had crossed the cyber-ninja's eyes, even through his ocular implants, probably a side effect of the morphine Sonya gave him. He blinked drowsily.

Kuai Liang watched him warily as the others did as he commanded and backed away, resuming their conversations. Tomas had calmed down considerably, but he wasn't certain how long that would last. But he nodded at Cyrax anyway, saying, "Go ahead."

The yellow cyber-ninja glanced at his comrade hesitantly and then plugged his coaxial cable back into Smoke's computer. The Cryomancer, who didn't know much about computer technology, watched in fascination as the small screen went black for a moment and then tiny letters flooded it in an incomprehensible code. Tomas whimpered quietly as Cyrax worked, still afraid at the notion of undergoing automation for a second time in his life, but like a child who finally cried himself to sleep after a hellacious temper tantrum, the man dozed off, unable to fight the effects of the morphine and Valium.

"It's done," the cyber-ninja reported a moment later. "I'm going to start repairing the other damage now."

For a couple of hours, Cyrax worked at repairing Smoke's armor and carefully removing the sharp shards around his neck. Kuai Liang never left their side once, opting instead to watch with the silence and patience of a hawk, helping his lieutenant by cleaning the thick smears of blood off Tomas' pale arm, shoulder, and face, and then bandaging what he could. It was a delicate process removing the damaged pieces, rather like surgery, he noted as the yellow cyber-ninja cut with small circular saws and pulled broken plates out. At one point, it even _was _surgery as Cyrax carefully removed the wires dangling loosely from his friend's eyes and sealed the holes they left behind with some of Stryker's smaller bandages. But when he finally slipped off the metal ring that joined the helmet to the suit, Smoke started to awaken.

"Kuai Liang?" he croaked drowsily.

"Yeah, I'm here."

"I know, I recognize your usual smell of wet dog fur covered in snow," he joked weakly. "After almost two years, I'm still wondering why you haven't found a stick of deodorant." With eyes narrowed to thin slits, he glanced at his friend and looked him up and down. "You look like hell."

The Cryomancer snorted, trying but failing to hold down the tears of relief that mingled with his laughter. "_You're_ one to talk," he replied, swallowing hard.

"Oh, my injuries will heal, but you'll always be ugly," the other retorted in a quiet voice.

"True, but I'd take intelligence over pretty any day," he said.

"Well, then I _definitely_ have you beat." With that, he looked up to the dark sky again and burst into new tears.

Kuai Liang frowned and then looked at Cyrax. "Give me a minute," he ordered his lieutenant. The yellow cyber-ninja looked warily at their companion, but then nodded obediently and bowed slightly before he got to his feet and stamped to the fire where the others conversed.

"How did you get away?" he asked when Cyrax was gone.

"I don't quite…remember," he wept. "I just remember hands."

"Hands?" Sub-Zero repeated, lifting an eyebrow in confusion.

"And fingers." He paused and held his hands to the Cryomancer's face. "You really should kill me," the man said, his voice trembling. "They've done so much evil. I deserve to die."

The Grandmaster sighed as he gripped the man's hands and folded them neatly across his cybernetic armor. "What did I always tell you growing up, Tomas?" he replied. The cyber-ninja looked at him in puzzlement, so he answered. "If I have to be here stuck dealing with this mess, so do you."

The man coughed out a bitter laugh and sniffed. "You don't understand. I've done awful things."

"I know."

"No, you don't," Tomas argued. "You don't know the half of it."

"If it's anything like what Cyrax went through, I've got a good idea," he said gently. "He had trouble for a long time too. He thought he was never going to get over it. But he _did_. At least, he manages much better now than he used to. You will too. It's going to take time, but you'll pull through."

"Oh, God, you sound like a greeting card," his friend replied as he covered his face with his hands. "That makes it even worse."

"I know it's hard-"

"No, you don't!" the other snapped impatiently, making Kuai Liang jump. Tomas rarely ever yelled at him, so his loud, angry voice startled him. "But I'm going to tell you so you'll quit trying to empathize with me. I helped Sektor wipe out an entire village of people. Oniro sent us out to find young women for his little exercise in repopulating the Lin Kuei, and this one village wasn't particularly anxious to let their daughter be taken prisoner by the Lin Kuei. So we burned the whole thing down and everyone in it. And then there was this boy…I broke his neck so hard I almost popped it off like a chicken. And just because he was protecting his little sister. God, he couldn't have been more than fourteen, not even a man yet."

"Tomas, it's not gonna work. You're not gonna make me hate you enough to kill you."

"Speaking of men," the other continued, ignoring him, "we took this American soldier hostage because we thought he had intel on your whereabouts. Oniro was adamant we find you because we all know how he always got his man…Well, I tortured him. I ripped that man's fingernails out of their beds one by one with pliers to get him to talk. It quickly became apparent that he was telling the truth and genuinely didn't know anything, but Sektor insisted I continue and use electricity on him, and I did until he finally had a seizure and choked to death on his own tongue."

"Tomas-" Kuai Liang said louder to stop him, but couldn't.

"And I had a daughter," he began, new tears slipping from the corners of his eyes. "Did Cyrax tell you that?"

"He told me what the Lin Kuei did to all those girls," he answered as he winced.

"Did he tell you that I personally threw mine off the cliff and watched her little body explode into pieces on the rocks? Perfect bite sized chunks for the vultures to swallow, Kuai Liang. And I didn't even _care_." He was half-sobbing again. "Did Cyrax tell you that? Huh? That Oniro told me she was trash, and so I just threw her away like a sack of garbage. Did he tell you? Did he?"

"No," he admitted. "He said he did that to his own, but he never mentioned you."

"Now you know why I want to die. I deserve to burn in hell for what I've done. Just like Noob."

"And then what would I tell Alexander?" he pointed out, unnerved by the candor with which Tomas spoke of Bi-han, but refusing to show it. "You still have him, and he needs you."

"He has you, and I bet he probably thinks of you as his father anyway," the other replied. "You're the only father he's ever known."

Now the Cryomancer felt angry. "That's enough," he snapped. "I am _not_ going to tell that boy that his father was a coward and checked out because things got a little too real for his liking. That is _not _going to happen, no matter which way you slice it. I spent my whole life getting stuck with the short end of the stick because of you, and taking horrible punishments from Oniro and my father because you ran off and ditched me, but you are _not _going to stick me with that burden, Tomas. Do you hear me? So quit feeling sorry for yourself."

Tomas' eyes went wide with surprise and he looked at his old friend in silent astonishment for a long moment. Finally, he said, "Well, look who's been eating his Wheaties." He raised an eyebrow. "I never knew you had a spine, Kuai Liang. I kind of like this side of you. It's adorable."

The Grandmaster burst out laughing, and was quickly joined by the cyber-ninja. "Well, you know, I had to do something to lure you back to me," he joked back. "I figured changing my hair wouldn't be enough, so I decided to go butch. It took some getting used to, but I think manly works really well for me." Both immediately started laughing even harder, and it was like they were little boys playing around their Lin Kuei dormitory once more.

But then Tomas, as if he'd done something wrong, sighed wistfully. "I shouldn't be laughing. It's not right. Not anymore."

"I doubt this is going to make a difference," the Cryomancer began, "but you do realize it's not your fault, don't you? You didn't choose to do what you did."

"I fail to see the distinction."

"I don't."

"Yeah, but you're not that bright."

Kuai Liang knit his eyebrows together. "Tomas."

"She was beautiful," he mumbled as he closed his eyes. "She had white hair like me. It was the only way you could tell her and Alexander apart."

The Cryomancer nodded his understanding. His friend just needed some self-flagellation right now, even though he truly didn't deserve it. So, he played along and didn't try to stop his train of thought. "That's good," he said, not really knowing what to say. "Did the women give her a name? Kamala said the slave women named the boys, and that they named Alex after Alexander the Great."

"They didn't, but _I_ did," he said defensively.

"Well, what is it?" the other prodded.

"Ava."

"After your mother?"

"Yeah."

Kuai Liang nodded again, still lost for words. For a fleeting moment, he thought about naming a daughter, should he have one, after _his_ mother, but quickly decided against it. 'Magdalena' seemed too old-fashioned for him, and Maggie even worse still. But he didn't share the stray thought with his friend. Instead, he said, "That's a good name, Tomas."

"I know. My mother was an angel, and that little girl was too. So she had to have a name fit for an angel."

"Obviously," he replied, though inwardly he felt confused. Tomas never really spoke about angels before, except to say he was named after St. Thomas Aquinas, the Angel Doctor.

"But dammit, Kuai Liang, why'd you take Alexander back to the Lin Kuei with you?" his friend broke through his thoughts. "You knew I never wanted that for my children. I wanted my kids to be kids, not mindless little killers like we were."

"Oh, you preferred I leave him with Oniro then?" the other replied.

"I _preferred _he have a normal life. And why exactly did _you_ go back?" he asked. "You hated the Lin Kuei just as much as I did. Why on earth would you be the one to launch their reunion tour?"

Sub-Zero sighed as he thought about it. "I had an opportunity to change it into something good. I had an opportunity to be someone else."

"Is this about your father?" Tomas asked pointedly. "Because he's dead, and-"

"No, it's about Anya," he cut his friend off as he thought about her. He swallowed a sudden ball of rage when he thought of her back there, in that pit, in that _cage_, like a pet dog. _Rain's_ pet dog. He rubbed his temples to drive away his lingering headache, and then realized that his friend was watching him, waiting for him to continue his train of thought. He cleared his throat. "You know what, never mind."

"The angel," he replied cryptically.

Kuai Liang looked down on him in puzzlement. "What?"

"The angel. Annalise the Angel, though she didn't have wings. Aren't they supposed to have wings?"

The Cryomancer was confused as to what his friend meant, exactly. "What are you talking about, Tomas? Why are you calling her that?"

"My sweet angel. _Můj sladký anděl_. She was so kind to me," he babbled on. "I was the bad guy, but she was still kind. She knew my name. She told it to me because I had forgotten how important it was. Her hand was soft, Kuai Liang. It changed me. I don't even know how, but it did. _She _did. So she's an angel. She just has to be."

He looked at his the cyber-ninja in something between amazement and confusion. Tomas wasn't functioning correctly, so it wasn't outside the realm of possibility that he was hallucinating or remembering things the wrong way. Then again, while Anya always had a comforting effect on her patients when she touched them, she seemed to have a marked increase in power now that went hand-in-hand with her newfound Hydromancy. His friend had been her guard for weeks now, so it was possible that she'd done something to him to help him throw off his mental shackles.

But now, Tomas' halfway serene expression had shifted into terrified panic, and he sat upright like a shot. "Oh, my God!" he yelped as he rested his hand on Kuai Liang's shoulder. "I left her. I left her!"

"Tomas, calm down!" he barked as his friend staggered to his feet.

"You don't understand, I have to go back," he muttered as he headed towards the mountains. "I'm supposed to guard her."

"And I appreciate that, but you're staying here."

"How could I forget to take her with me?" he asked to no one in particular. "She's all alone now, with no one to keep her out of trouble."

"Tomas! Sit down!" he yelled as the other warriors gradually approached them, all ready for another fight.

"Kuai Liang, I have to go back!" he cried.

"No, you don't." It wasn't that he didn't appreciate his friend's frantic concern, but it was _his_ job to go get Anya, and he would. He was not going to endanger Tomas just to let him do something he needed – no, _wanted _– to do.

"Yes, I do! She's all alone with Rain. The others will be okay without me, but not her. He doesn't care about them. But I was the only thing standing between him and her. And now that I'm gone, there's nothing to stop him from-"

"From doing what he wants," Kabal finished, joining the conversation uninvited.

"Yes," Smoke agreed as he stopped and looked at them both.

"Butt out," Kuai Liang barked at the cop, glaring at him dangerously.

"I get that you're angry at me-"

"That's interesting, Kabal," he hissed. "Do you also get how close you are to the end of your life?"

"I'm not sorry for what I did," he said. "I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I gave you the chance to fight another day."

"She might not have another day!" he snapped.

"All the reason for me to go back," Tomas told him. "I can teleport in and get her."

"That is not advisable, Smoke" Cyrax said, now joining their discussion. "Your energy levels are dangerously low. If by some chance you made the jump in, you would not have enough power to bring yourself back, let alone a passenger. You would get yourself and her killed in the process."

"_I'm_ going," Sub-Zero announced. "I'll be damned if that rat bastard lays a finger on her again. So you all can just sit down and wait." He started to charge towards the enemy stronghold, but Cyrax promptly grabbed his wrist and refused to let go.

"That is also not advisable, Grandmaster," he said. "You have been tortured and have not slept since you and Kabal left the group, a little over two days ago. And before then, you had not slept well in almost two weeks. You need to rest as well."

"If you expect me to sleep while Rain is-"

"When I studied Smoke's logs, I saw that Quan Chi ordered him to stand guard over her. Now that Smoke is not there, it is highly probable that she has a new guard, perhaps the sorcerer himself. He is close to victory and will allow nothing, not even his own servant, to jeopardize his plans. All the available data suggests that Quan Chi's and Shang Tsung's forces have one last site to travel to: the burial grounds of the Dragon King's army. That is where they have to perform the ritual. Therefore, I propose that first we all work together to devise a suitable plan of attack."

Kuai Liang didn't like the idea of waiting, but he realized his lieutenant's advice was sound. His worry for Anya, and to a lesser extent the other prisoners, was sorely clouding his judgment and causing him to rush in blindly to dangerous situations. He would never admit it, even under pain of death, but Raiden had made a good point when he'd said he was a part of team; perhaps he needed their help as much as they needed his. So, while trying to ignore his overwhelming worry for Anya and his hatred for Rain for everything the man would do to her, he swallowed hard.

"Very well," he said as calmly as he could muster. "What do you have in mind?"


	34. The Essence of the Dragon King

**Author's Note: I'm very sorry for the delay in updating. I've had a nasty case of writer's block, and I couldn't write anything to save my life! I honestly feel like this chapter is crap, but it's more than I've been able to do in the last two months, so it's better than nothing. As we say in the English Department at my school, it's shit, but it's done. Thanks to everyone for being patient with me, and to all my friends who've tried to help me get over this godforsaken dry spell, especially Overseerneversleeps. **

**Also, I've been getting a lot of anonymous guest reviewers asking questions. Unfortunately, I can't respond to them directly, so I've been trying to respond to them by commenting on my own story. However, FanFiction only lets people comment once per chapter, and I've run out of chapters to comment on. So, if you have a question for me, and it's very important to you that I answer it, I have to ask you to send me a PM or log in so I can answer you directly. If you don't, I won't be responding. Nothing personal, it's just a logistical problem. **

* * *

Quan Chi and Shang Tsung, accompanied by Noob Saibot and Reptile, led their army from the scorched black mountains and the ever-falling ash westward onto a dusty plain baked barren by a blistering sun that, ironically enough, hung low in a perpetually twilight sky. Sporadic trees and plants, few even by a desert's standards, cast long shadows across the landscape; twisting canyons and sharp, ominous abysses scarred that landscape with deep personality of its own. Many of those chasms blazed red as if painted by fire, and perhaps they had been, years ago, and perhaps some curious mind would've been fascinated to know this place's history. But for now, nobody cared about the pockmarked land, its slopes too steep and treacherous to offer shelter, its mineral composition too poor to exploit for riches or food. In other words, nothing about this ecosystem could possibly interest any of the citizens of Outworld.

Which, of course, was the point.

Even with their combined magic, it took both sorcerers several hours of searching to find the entrance to the tomb that sheltered the Dragon King's army, so cleverly was it concealed. Layers of magic, exceedingly old yet impressively sophisticated, coupled with mundane camouflage and illusion, tricked even the Necromancer's highly attuned perceptions. Without Shang Tsung's vehemence that something was, in fact, there, Quan Chi would have passed it over without a second thought. His opinion for his rival only slightly improved at the revelation, even though he proved more useful than he originally imagined.

Soon, they both discovered that the mechanism for opening the door to the tomb was complicated by even more magic, and it was almost certainly rigged with deadly traps. Onaga, it seemed, had been deeply paranoid at the thought of someone claiming his army. So for the first time since allying themselves with each other, both sorcerers completely agreed: they would not _use_ the door.

Quan Chi dropped to his knees, running his ghastly white fingers through the baked dust, whispering words from a language long dead and forgotten. The scorching temperature abruptly dropped, and even Noob Saibot, icy to the core, shuddered at the sudden chill in the air. Within seconds, bones wreathed in swirling green ether scrambled from the ground and attacked the stone wall before them, the shrill noise they made a hideous screeching like nails across a chalkboard. The cyclone of undead workers rapidly peeled away layers of rock, but the energy required to feed them sapped the Necromancer in ways few other of his spells did, so even though the skeletons had only burrowed partway through, after a few moments he was forced to release them. As quickly as they had sprung from the cursed Outworld soil, they receded back as if they never were.

Quan Chi slowly rose and looked at Shang Tsung, noting his rival's expression, a bastard child of confusion and disgust. "That spell requires too much of me," he explained. "I will not be able to open the portal to the heavens if I expend too much more energy on chipping through the wall, to say nothing of creating the required soulnado."

"Step aside," the other hissed, "and allow me to demonstrate what an army of souls is capable of doing in the hands of someone who _knows_ what he's doing."

_He's too easy_, the Necromancer thought in derision. Anything Shao Kahn's former advisor did would drain him as well, rendering him more vulnerable to attack. And that was exactly what the Netherrealm sorcerer was banking on. So with a thinly veiled smirk, he moved out of his rival's way and waited to see how Shang Tsung would prove his usefulness for a second time that day.

Quan Chi was only moderately impressed.

An inhuman groan that began in the dirt quickly ascended into the air as Shang Tsung breathed noisily and deep, lifting his arms as if wading through water, then pushing them outward as if plowing through stone. As he gestured, the souls of hundreds of his everlasting prisoners bolted from his body at his command, colliding with the wall, shoving it effortlessly out of the way. Everyone within close proximity, save for the Necromancer, jumped at the explosion of rock onto their heads.

_I suppose his barbaric gifts _do _have merit_. Of course, Quan Chi would never admit it aloud.

"Reptile, enter," Shang Tsung barked at his serpentine slave. Immediately, the Zaterran screeched and leapt forward. Noob Saibot quickly followed, ordered to by a subtle glance from Quan Chi, who marched after them beside his rival.

The tunnel through the rock was not long, and it led slightly downward to a single chamber that was far wider than it was tall. In the dim cavern illuminated only by the twilight outside, the Necromancer estimated that the tomb was roughly a hundred paces across, but virtually impossible to discern the depth from this vantage point. But the massive size of the cave was not what concerned him; standing abreast, stretching as far back as the eye could see, stood hundreds – no, _thousands_ – of terra cotta warriors in full battle armor. A wicked, toothy grin slowly spread across Quan Chi's face.

* * *

For several days – how many, he could not be sure – Aapep, known to his Outworld masters as Reptile, had wandered through a foggy reality, cringing from the voices chattering in his head, dodging and shielding himself from the stones thrown by ghosts.

_Reptile!_

_ The best parts of your family tree are buried in the ground, Reptile! _

_ How did you like your day chained to that rock, Reptile? Vermin like you enjoy the sun, don't they? I see all the burns and blisters have done nothing to improve your appearance._

_ I think your hair just ate something, Scales-for-Brains. _

_ You're a filthy animal. A reptile. Your kind was weak, but they had their uses from time to time. That's the only reason why I'm sparing your life._

Sometimes Aapep knew the voices weren't real, but sometimes he would snort and hiss for them to stop, and he'd clutch his head in pain until he'd realize the only voice screaming at him was his. No voice but his voice, growling in his Zaterran language, bouncing off the walls and people like a child's ball, always returning alone. Everyone in his clan, in most clans, was gone. The rest were slaves. Everyone. Or were they? The Master warned him that without Mother, he'd start to go crazy, and only a crazy man would think, when he'd personally witnessed his entire clan butchered at the hands of a bloodthirsty army, that anyone else could've survived.

But the voices grew stronger the moment he leapt through the thick dust stirred up when Shang Tsung forced open the tomb, and he believed he was not hallucinating. The sound, in fact, grew so deafening that he could scarcely stand it until at last, one voice slayed all the others.

_Come to me, Aapep. _

He shuddered at the sound of his given name. It had been thousands of years since he'd heard it. He'd almost forgotten what it sounded like, but as it reverberated off the stone walls and caught inside his ears, hope swelled in his chest. It was Mother's voice.

As Quan Chi and Shang Tsung fawned over their stone soldiers, Reptile disappeared from their view, feeling the familiar cold sensation snake over his skin as he did, and ventured further into the tomb. The cramped passageways of this particular sanctum were rock polished smooth by magic, alive somehow, ever-undulating like the insides of some unidentifiable creature. Foul liquids – an unmistakable blend of blood, serum, and more intimate fluids – dribbled down the walls from some unknown source and made them glisten in the dim light.

It flickered like firelight from within the stone walls, but its rhythms were off, disconcerting. The ambient hue was a jaundiced yellow, painful to view through Reptile's razor thin black pupils, and somehow hot and sticky on his scales. Unnaturally humid, it coated him with a sheen of perspiration that made his body ache, almost as if sickness clung to him.

And it stunk.

His kind had been blessed with a keen sense of smell, but as he scurried silently through the hallways towards the sound of Mother's voice, he cursed it. It was as if someone had heaped thousands of bodies on top of a cesspool, and it grew stronger and fouler the further into the tomb he ventured. Reptile's nose, a flat and serpentine thing, crinkled in disgust behind his mask.

Finally, he emerged in a large, circular chamber, the intersection of passageways. He looked around curiously, noting the baskets heaping with food and treasure shoved against the slick walls. Skeleton slaves, long dead, dressed in ornate but half-rotted gowns, laid around a raised dais at the center of the room, some of them grasping for the object in the middle. It was like they had died in a moment of devotion, throwing themselves in mourning at the corpse they had clearly been locked in with. One skeleton's arm stretched towards the center of the dais in longing, directing Reptile's attention towards a large egg made of gold resting vertically in an ornate stand. The Zaterran wrinkled his brow in confusion. _This_ was his Mother?

_Aapep, come closer_, Mother's voice beckoned to him. Her dulcet tones were seductive and mesmerizing, the promise of a new beginning. She would free him from his bondage.

Obediently, Reptile inched closer, becoming visible to the eye once again, and he stepped over the reaching skeleton's arm onto the dais towards the egg which had now started pulsing in time to the chamber's unnatural light. Sudden, scorching heat emanated from it. Once more, he warily cocked his head. He knew his Mother, the Queen of their Clan, had hatched from an egg as all Zaterrans did, but he never knew her hatching had been so dramatic. And how had she come to this parched land to begin with? It had been dead and desolate, even when Zaterra lived and thrived. When his Master, Shao Kahn, had killed Mother with his hammer, Aapep burned her body on a pyre in the middle of their city. The flames from the pyre licked the sky with appropriately forked tongues, burning bright, just like the light inside this golden egg before him.

Perhaps the Elder Gods had decided Zaterra had suffered servitude and humiliation long enough, and resurrected her.

_Closer…_she whispered as if reading his thoughts.

Reptile edged even closer, unable to stop himself even if he wanted to.

And then an explosion of light as the egg cracked open in a burst of flames. The light and heat blinded the Zaterran, and he hissed in pain as he stumbled backwards, tripping over the skeleton's outstretched arm. He hit his skull on a treasure chest full of gold and precious gemstones, a jagged lightning bolt zipping through his head as his scales began to weep green blood into his ears. With half-blurred vision, stunned stupid, Reptile looked at the dais and saw gray and black smoke roiling around the egg as it concealed it within its thick folds. It was hard to tell, but he imagined he saw a figure form from the smoggy clouds.

A moment later, he realized he wasn't imagining anything.

A ghostly figure visible only through smoke, a towering beast monstrous in size and shape, something like a dragon made man, stepped towards the frightened Zaterran. Reptile flipped over and tried to scurry away, but the spirit grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and threw him effortlessly into a large pile of treasure on the opposite side of the room. As he landed, he felt his leg twist beneath him at an awkward angle until it snapped completely and he howled in a serpentine screech. Meanwhile, the figure stomped towards him, stamping on one of his servant's skeleton arms, shattering it beneath his weight.

"Mother?" Reptile whimpered, still not understanding how he'd been tricked.

"She's dead," he said cruelly, matter-of-factly, in a booming, demonic voice quite unlike Mother's. "And you're doomed for extinction." The figure stopped in front of the Zaterran, looking down on him ominously.

Though he lacked any clear facial features, Reptile saw eyes blazing like an inferno deep within the black ether. Orange like lava, wreathed in flame, they narrowed as they studied their prey. Then, without warning, the figure's arm shot out and gripped him by the throat as it lifted him off the ground. The Zaterran suddenly remembered himself and began thrashing with his razor sharp claws and spitting his venom at his aggressor, watching with satisfaction as the cloud separated as if wounded. But his heart sank a moment later when the blackness rejoined and once more, he stared into eyes glowing brilliant orange.

"Mother…" he whined, some part of him hoping she was there in the cavern with him.

"I require something of you, Aapep," the figure growled.

With that, a scorching white light left the figure's palm and gnawed through Reptile's chest, coiling around his heart and constricting hard. But it felt bigger, stronger, and more evil than the mightiest snake, and it burned like all of Outworld, like all the dimensions in the universe, were on fire. He screamed inhumanly as it tore him apart from the inside out, but the sound of the dying voices in his head incinerated his own.

* * *

"You understand, don't you, that while I have mastered several styles of magic, I have not mastered Necromancy?" Shang Tsung asked Quan Chi as the two sorcerers prepared to open the soulnado to resurrect the army. "It is beneath me."

The peculiar pair currently occupied the exact center of the narrow valley in the thirsty land, standing on either side of a small fire made from magic. Around the base of the flames, Quan Chi had etched an array of glyphs and sigils, bug-like things that seemed like they'd crawl away given half the chance. They came from a language long-forgotten to history. Tied tightly to stakes at the four points of direction – north, east, south, west – were the four prisoners waiting to be sacrificed like the helpless lambs they were so that the Dragon King's army, arranged at attention in vast companies, could live once more.

"I'm aware," Quan Chi answered him finally. "But I have something else in mind for you." _A swift, brutal end_, he thought as he lowered himself to the dirt, careful to not disturb any of the symbols he had drawn. "What I plan to do is no more complicated than anything I've done a thousand times before. The problem is the magnitude. I've never attempted Necromancy on a scale of this size before. That is where you come in."

"You need power," Shang Tsung correctly deduced.

"Yes. I need you to gather and funnel your energy into me."

"I imagine the mental effort should be easy enough," he replied. "But Quan Chi, I am not entirely comfortable with this plan. It will weaken me, as I know you know, leaving me at your mercy."

"Do you know of another way to revive Onaga's army? The directions were very clear, after all," the Necromancer said pointedly. No need to tell the demon sorcerer that he'd be severely drained as well.

"No," he replied unhappily.

"Then let us begin. You will need to stay focused on me throughout the spell. I will signal you when I need you to channel your power into the incantation."

"Very well. But I warn you, Necromancer. No tricks."

Quan Chi nodded curtly, straightened, placed both palms on the dirt, and began. Immediately, he felt as though he had sunk through the loam silt and into a sticky sludge like the pus from a diseased wound. Its wet, feverish heat pressed in on him from all sides until sickness itself dripped from his mouth and down his throat, nauseating him.

He ignored the unpleasant sensation and followed the spell deeper, tracking the beating of a heart long dead. Back in time, before Shao Kahn ravaged Outworld, before he took the throne…before he committed genocide. And the Necromancer found what he was looking for. A single drop of the most potent magical energy, the one voice that drowned out millions of shrieking others. The power of the Dragon King.

"Now, Shang Tsung," he whispered almost inaudibly to his companion.

From thousands of miles away, it seemed, power surged through him, around him. Quan Chi used it to forcibly collect his discovery and haul it back to his body where he found himself still sitting in the ancient dirt. Before him, the flames burned low and green, snapping impatiently as if anxious for him to add more magic to their forked tongues. A strange wind, one that swirled upward from the ground like a tornado and through the scattered sigils, twisted around them without disturbing the tiniest fleck of dust. And then, in the dirt, cancerous energy like bioluminescent blood began to pool.

Vaporous at first, bright and green, it welled from the ground. Slowly, though, it coalesced further, the pleasant green condensing to a dark emerald nearly black. From the land where it had soaked thousands of years before, the remains of the Dragon King's godlike power, the Necromancer had brought it back through dark magic and determination.

Again, Quan Chi reached out, mystically, spiritually, beyond his body. Riding the flow of Shang Tsung's magic, he found his four sacrificial lambs and spread his influence through them, through the valley, stretching his power, the call of the dead, farther than he'd ever had before. He thought he heard his victims scream as one, and they probably were. And now, the green essence continued to pool, but it also found the ghostly updraft of cyclonic wind, folding in on itself, flying high. It thickened and spread until a soulnado, the most powerful one he'd ever created, scraped the sky and cast sickly hues on the valley.

A low rumble began to roar beneath the now shaking ground.

* * *

At the western point of the valley, Anya, tightly tied to a stake crafted from a tree log, had reached a place where she ceased to feel pain. For what felt like ages, she listened to Quan Chi's deep, disturbing voice float on the breeze, uttering words in a language she couldn't recognize while a green light pooled around him like a puddle. Then, a moment before his soulnado sprang into being, his words stabbed at her abdomen like a spear and all she felt was fire. In the distance, she thought she heard the rough shrieking of a tortured captive, and then she faintly realized it was her who howled so inhumanly.

But the pain had passed, and now she found herself soaring over a vast ocean towards a setting sun, far from the ground quaking violently as it pushed up ancient temples.

_Become one with this great sea of the Waters of Creation_…Himavat whispered to her. She remembered him now, the memories flashing through the water beneath her like little movies, pouring into her mind until she'd reclaimed them. He was so kind, like a grandfather she never knew, if not conniving and ornery like a child. God, she desperately wished she could see him as he spoke to her.

"Himavat," she whispered as she, still tied to her stake, gazed off into the distance, not seeing the soulnado but the ocean. "Help me."

_Dive deep into it until you have lost yourself_…

Suddenly, Anya plunged into the ocean, through the memory of speaking with the Elder God for the first time, the morning he'd made an unwelcome appearance in her bedroom the night after she'd first made love to Kuai Liang. And then she completely remembered him as well, her soulmate, the memories of their life together flowing around and through her, filling her with clear warmth. The water around her grew darker and colder, and she knew not where she was going, nor could she see the way. Fear gripped her.

She was in terror's full grasp for several long minutes, now choking, fighting the powerful pull yanking her towards an unknown destination when finally, a pinpoint of golden light broke through the darkness. It hurt her eyes at first, so brilliant were its rays, but they quickly adjusted and absorbed more dots – some red, some blue, some yellow – in her sight. Her breathing came easier once more as the glowing specks rapidly multiplied and coalesced into milky spirals, and she realized in awe that she hovered in space above some twisting galaxy. Anya knew it was real, that she was really a witness to the delicately shaded stars and ether, but somehow it made _her_ feel _unreal_, if such a thing were possible. Never before had all of creation felt such gentle peace.

_And having lost yourself, you will find yourself again_.

Something strong yanked her backwards through time, and she watched in amazement as planets, stars, entire solar systems and galaxies slipped past her, vanished because they hadn't been born yet, to a point where nothing but the Elder Gods existed.

_Changeless, this great expanse of elemental Water remains forever pure_...

Anya floated in some strange ether, a white mist like a blank canvas, and she watched as the four Elder Gods thrust their right hands into the middle, their arms like spokes on a bicycle. No words passed between them, only an understanding of their actions, and a ball glowing gold with godlike energy formed beneath their palms.

_For this reason, it possesses the quality of stability_…

And then an explosion gave birth to the universe, and with it five dragons colored blue, green, yellow, red, and gold. Anya wasn't sure how she knew this to be fact, but they were something called Elementals, the Elements made flesh. The blue dragon saw her curiously watching the scene unfold and it flew to her, coiling itself around her body tightly, her soul absorbing and becoming one with it as she started to glow with a sapphire-colored aura. For a moment that lasted eons, the Hydromancer felt immensely powerful. And then, unexpectedly, something dark and wicked leeched her azure energy from her, funneling it into something even darker and more evil. She watched stupidly as wisps of blue violently pulled away from her, and she felt weak, ill.

And then, looming over the Elder Gods and the Elementals was a pair of eyes wreathed in flames, glowing burnt orange like lava, peering through her soul. She started to burn under those eyes' fiery gaze, the forked tongues cruelly licking at her flesh. In terror, she started screaming again.

"Anya!" a familiar voice yelled back at her as a sudden chill cooled her.

_From Water all life has its beginning_.

"Anya! Come on, Ahn, wake up!"

The Hydromancer was instantly back in her body, her voice sore and raw, her lungs hot and struggling to breathe. Tiny icicles dangled from strands of her long hair, but even still, her skin felt eerily delicate like it was still on fire and about to crumble and blow away. She looked around in confusion through teary eyes, not certain what just happened, and her eyes met blue ones like the Arctic Ocean.

"Kuai Liang?" she croaked, finding it difficult to speak. Her throat stung painfully.

"I'm here," he said as he used a kori knife to cut her bonds loose. "I'm sorry, I had to use my powers on you. You were burning up and having a seizure. At least, I think it was a seizure."

She closed her eyes, feeling the tears slip down her cheeks uncontrollably. "You've got to help the others," she whispered as she felt her arms, which had been tied behind the stake, fall limply to her sides.

"The others are helping the others," he explained as he pulled one of her arms over his shoulder to help her walk.

Without warning, three small metal stars raced from nowhere, whistling loudly as they flew through the air and into Kuai Liang's armor. The force of impact knocked him backwards into the stake, and Anya, severely weakened, collapsed to her knees. She mustered the energy to look at the figure who now approached slowly like a tiger hunting a deer. Her eyes fixed on his perfect black topknot, his purple armor, and his maniacal sneer.

"Rain," she whimpered.

"Hello, my love," he said. "Surprised to see me?"


	35. Rain Falls

Anger surged through Sub-Zero as he rubbed his scalp through his cowl and heard footsteps approaching. He didn't have time for this nonsense. He had to get Anya away from here; when he'd found her only moments before, he'd been too late because Quan Chi was in the middle of sapping her life away, and she'd been in the clutches of some violent seizure as a result. Her skin scorched hot with fever and her eyes rolled hard into the back of her head while she trembled uncontrollably, prompting him to blast her with ice – not enough to freeze her, just cool her – just to save her life. It had worked for now, but he had no way of knowing if she was still vulnerable to the Necromancer's spell. So he was particularly annoyed when he heard her say, "Rain," and then his nemesis' voice reply, "Hello, my love. Surprised to see me?"

The Cryomancer jumped to his feet, plucking the throwing stars from his armor and tossing them to the ground, unimpressed. "Not really," he answered for Anya. "You keep turning up."

"It's funny how that works, isn't it?" the demigod countered as the ground shook violently. "A prince showing up to collect what he is owed. What will they think of next?"

"A state funeral?" he growled as he lobbed an ice ball at his enemy.

Rain had clearly anticipated his action, however, and dove to the side with catlike reflexes. Before Sub-Zero knew what had happened, the other threw his arms into the air to summon his lightning, giving him barely enough time to form an ice clone to shield him from the attack. The bolt that struck it exploded in a shower of electricity, and the force of the blast launched him and shards of his icy effigy over the cliff's edge. Stunned, it was nothing short of miraculous that his hand found a thorny shrub to keep him from falling to his death. He slammed into the rock wall, his slightly black vision bursting with stars, his shoulder straining to yank itself from its socket. Close above him, Rain began to cackle hysterically while Anya shrieked "Kuai Liang!"

Heavy footsteps shuffled through the parched dirt. The Cryomancer looked up and saw the Hydromancer come into view. He wanted to beat the Edenian's arrogant smirk off his face, and he promised himself he would, but for now, his attention was focused on hanging on to the little shrub. He didn't even notice the pyramids bursting from the valley floor hundreds of feet below. Rain didn't see them either. Instead, the demigod cocked his head at his prey before he knelt unsteadily and examined the quivering plant. He made no threatening gesture, merely watched in amusement as Sub-Zero tried to grip it with his free hand only to have the tiny branches snap under his weight. Rain chuckled as the other's body crashed uncontrollably into the cliff once more.

"You know, I'll bet that if I gave this little plant some water, you could pull it right out," he cheerfully remarked as powdery loam silt broke free of the ledge and rained on the Grandmaster's head.

Suddenly, a sunbaked, petrified tree branch cracked over Rain's skull from behind, and he slumped to the side in shock and pain as Anya stood over him with plain fury written on her face. "I have had _enough _of you," she growled, and Sub-Zero grinned proudly behind his mask.

His pleasure with her only lasted a moment, however, because the Edenian quickly recovered and leaped to his feet, glaring angrily at her as blood streamed down his neck from the back of his scalp. While Rain stalked towards her, she swung her branch at him again, but this time he grabbed it and yanked it from her hands, throwing it to the side as she yelped. He stamped towards her like a predator on the move, prompting Sub-Zero to fight even harder to hoist himself up. He swung his body around to generate some momentum to leap up, but as he did, the shrub started to slide out of the ground, slamming him into the wall once more.

_Dammit!_ he inwardly cursed.

Rain snatched Anya then and slapped her hard. "I have had enough of _you_," he hissed at her as she staggered to the side. "But I'm going to enjoy teaching you to behave." He looked over his shoulder at the Cryomancer struggling to climb up, easily subduing his squirming captive, and said, "I'm sorry I have to leave you like this, Sub-Zero, I really am. I would've enjoyed watching you fall to your death. But time is of the essence so I'm just going to have to be content with the knowledge that you fell. But please, my friend, die knowing that Anya's in good hands, with her own kind, where she belongs." With that, he aimed a jet of icy water at the shrub and saturated it as well as the ground around it before he dragged his prize away.

"Kuai Liang!" she yelped as she kicked and punched at Rain. There was precious little she could do to him with the blasted cobalt collar still fastened around her neck.

"Anya!" he called in response, now frantic. He couldn't lose her again.

But the water had made his hand and the shrub bark slippery, and he felt himself losing his grip. More water streamed onto his head like a shower, rushing into his eyes and obscuring his vision. He sputtered and choked as it filled his nostrils. Compounding the problem was the shaking ground; it trembled uncontrollably as it pushed out the structures below like festering splinters. Half-blind, he formed a kori knife with his free hand to help him establish a handhold, but he abruptly dropped it when the shrub jarred loose in the mud and began to slide from the ground slowly.

Kuai Liang seethed in fury as his slippery fingers strained to hold on to his little shrub. He felt tiny roots snap as the mud slowly relinquished its hold over them, and he was no closer to saving himself than he was when he first fell over the side.

The Cryomancer risked a look over his shoulder. This valley greatly resembled the Grand Canyon back in Earthrealm save for the pyramids lining the flat stone floor in two parallel rows to the horizon, towards a massive one reminiscent of the temple at Chichen Itza, and the drop was astonishingly high, though not as high as many of the nearby cliffs. Still, the dusty basin was like the maw of some great beast waiting to swallow him whole. God…of all the ways to go, this was not the way he wanted to die. He wondered how badly, if at all, it would hurt when his body splattered all over the baked rocks below.

_Pain is the mark of a weak mind_, his father's voice admonished him inside his head.

"Shut up," he muttered to the old man, unaware he'd even done so.

As Kuai Liang studied the ground, the shrub jerked violently again, and he struggled to hang on while he slid down even farther. Frantically, he searched around for what was at least the hundredth time since he first found himself in this predicament, looking for something to help him out of this mess. He wasn't entirely surprised when he found nothing. Again.

Suddenly, Sub-Zero heard someone click their tongue in admonishment. He looked up and saw Scorpion standing above him with his arms crossed, his milky white eyes vaguely amused but mostly indifferent.

"I'm just curious, Sub-Zero," he began. "Will there ever come a day when I _don't _find you hanging around?"

"Oh great," he replied in a strained voice as he tried to hoist himself up again, "when did _you _get a sense of humor?" Now his hand and the bush shuddered as one, and he hit the wall again.

"I am the funniest warrior in the Shirai Ryu." Scorpion's voice was calm and matter-of-fact. He could be talking about the weather or what he'd eaten for breakfast for all the emotion he put into his statement. And that's why Kuai Liang couldn't stifle his amused chuckle in spite of his precarious position.

Scorpion stood above Sub-Zero for the longest moment, simply staring at his tentative ally as the other struggled not to fall, to the point the latter thought he was going to let him. But then, just as the Cryomancer's fingers finally started to slide off the soggy branch, the wraith gripped his hand and hoisted him up in one powerful motion.

"I thought I was a dead man," he breathed heavily as he tried not to stumble. Beneath his boots, the ground still swayed. "Thank you."

"You're foolishly wasting time," Scorpion curtly responded. "You _could_ be teaching arrogant little demigods why they should fear and respect the Cryomancers."

Behind his mask, Kuai Liang smiled wickedly. "You're right, my friend," he agreed as he thought of his nemesis. "I could. Care to join me?"

"No," the other replied. "I'm hunting much bigger prey. And I have already had my fun with him. Your turn is long overdue."

"Indeed." Sub-Zero beat his closed fist on his heart, the Lin Kuei sign of respect, and slightly bowed. Scorpion, in turn, pressed his fist into his palm and pushed out, demonstrating the Shirai Ryu salute. Then, the wraith stepped backwards through a flame-wreathed portal he'd instantly conjured, and the Cryomancer took off sprinting down the hill.

He caught up with Rain and Anya towards the bottom, just in time to see her jab her rigidly straight fingers into her kidnapper's armpit, hitting the pressure point there exactly like he'd taught her when he'd attempted to teach her self-defense. _I'll be damned, she was actually paying attention_, he inwardly laughed as he watched the Edenian double over with a pained yelp. Anya capitalized on the opportunity and bolted even though Rain was only stunned long enough to give her a moment's head start before he gave chase. Infuriated by his enemy, the desire to kill him quickly long gone and replaced by the need to make him suffer, Kuai Liang threw an ice ball over his head to get his attention.

As expected, Rain stopped in his tracks when he saw the ball slam into a large boulder before him and then stretch into a thin sheet of blue ice. "You have unbelievably good luck," he growled as he turned and faced him.

"Hardly," the Grandmaster scoffed. "Not as lucky as you, anyway."

"If you're referring to the incident with Scorpion, you should know that I heal quickly."

"And even quicker when a sorcerer's helping you, am I right?"

Rain grinned. "What can I say? It meant so much to Shang Tsung, so I figured I'd let him fix my broken jaw. So tonight, when I wed her at the sacred pool of Massilia, I'll be able to kiss Anya wherever I please."

He stalked towards the demigod and immediately threw a well-aimed punch at the man's head. "Kiss this!" he roared, livid at the thought of Rain touching any part of Anya again. Unfortunately, the other blocked it, threw one of his own, and now _he _deflected. With lightning fast speed, the two warriors began to trade blows, but neither one made any real connection with his target for several long moments. Finally, though, Rain threw a lucky straight punch that struck Sub-Zero in his chest. He choked as he stumbled, but he relaxed and let his body arch backwards until he soon stood on his hands, and he kicked his opponent's chin with his muddy tabi boot. He continued to flip while the Edenian fell into one of the stone pillars behind him.

Reminiscent of the tall stones back in Utah, the ones that precariously balanced boulders on top of narrow columns as if Nature were mocking the laws of physics, the moment Rain crashed into it, it began to collapse. Kuai Liang saw Anya paralyzed with astonishment as she stared at it, unmoving, so before one of the heavy stones fell on her head, ice exploded from his feet to propel him towards her and knock her out of the way. Rain, too, had also leaped to the side to avoid getting squashed as the boulders fell into the dirt with loud, dull thuds.

"Kuai Liang, you're alive," Anya said in relief as she hugged him when it was safe.

"Don't sound so surprised," he admonished as he yanked the cobalt collar from her throat, froze it, and then smashed it to pieces. "You need to run now," he told her.

"I'm not leaving without you," she argued.

"Anya, my hand to God-"

But before he could finish his thought, Rain, who'd obviously recovered first, grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and threw him backwards a few feet before he kicked the woman in the stomach for good measure. Sub-Zero roiled with burning rage now as he heard Anya howl in pain and then saw her curl into a ball on the ground nearby. As the Edenian stalked towards him, indifferent towards her suffering, the Cryomancer promptly slapped the ground with an ice-charged palm; he watched as blue ice surged through the dirt and slithered around the other's ankles, creeping up both legs like twin snakes, and froze him into place.

Rain scowled as he twisted his feet to break loose, but the ice held him fast. Sub-Zero quickly did a kip-up and stamped towards him like an angry bull with its eyes on a matador's red cloth. In that moment, all his hatred, all his fury, all his lust for vengeance against the demigod exploded through him, and he threw what had to be the most powerful left hook he'd ever dealt to anyone in his life. The blow struck Rain in the cheekbone, but Kuai Liang scarcely heard the loud crack of his eye orbit breaking over the sound of his own heart pounding in his chest. It felt _good_ to hit that son-of-a-bitch that hard. He hit him so hard, in fact, that the energy from the punch shattered his ice shackles and lifted him off the ground for at least a second before gravity let him fall into the dirt.

The Edenian moaned as he held his hands to his rapidly swelling eye. The Cryomancer saw his opportunity to finish him, but though in clear agony, the other saw him, promptly rocked back slightly as he drew his knees to his chest, and then threw his feet out to kick him directly in the shins. Now it was Sub-Zero's turn to wail in pain. The powerful motion had hyperextended his knees until they were inverted. Sudden, shocking tension surged to his feet and up through his hips as he collapsed onto all fours, grimacing and praying Rain hadn't just broken his kneecaps or one of his calf bones. Paralyzed by the rhythmic, jagged throbbing enveloping his shins, he struggled to breathe and tried to will it all away.

"Oh, did that hurt, human vermin?" Rain jeered. "How about a drink to take the edge off?" With that, he aimed his palm at Sub-Zero's face and sprayed it with a highly pressurized jet of water that stung his skin like thousands of angry bees. He sputtered and coughed.

From somewhere nearby, Anya screamed, "Kuai Liang!"

"Run," he managed to croak just as Rain did a kip-up and then roundhouse kicked him in the face. Those particular kicks were exceptionally powerful when executed properly, the Cryomancer knew, but the one that caught him now had to be at least five times stronger than he had expected. Now _his_ eye socket crunched from the blow as his body rose into the air and an invisible cord yanked him violently into one of the scattered boulders. By the time he landed, his eye had already swollen completely shut and blood poured from his nose, mouth, and ear.

"Stop it! Leave him alone!" he heard Anya cry as he groaned and tried to stand. There was the familiar _whoosh_ as a jet of water streamed through the air, but Rain cruelly laughed at whatever the woman had attempted to do.

"Anya, run away _now_," he growled, albeit weakly. "I'm not kidding. I'll freeze you myself if you don't do what I say."

At that, Rain was on him again, yanking him up by his tunic and pummeling his face repeatedly with just one hand. In retaliation, Sub-Zero threw his ice charged hand at him, but the demigod deflected the shot and hundreds of tiny, razor-sharp knives flew into a different rock pillar nearby. They embedded themselves into the stone, making the monument look like a giant porcupine's backside.

"Why do you insist on sending her away, my friend?" the Edenian began as he straddled his chest and backhanded him with his knuckles. "You don't want her to see you die at my hands?"

"Anya, run!" Kuai Liang called, his voice still labored, but slightly stronger than before.

Rain slapped him. "Don't talk to her. She belongs to me now. And I have a problem with other men addressing my property. _Especially _you. Not that I need to worry much longer."

With that, he produced his powerful sword, the one he seemingly pulled from thin air, and aimed it for Sub-Zero's body at the place where the collarbone connects to the sternum. Ice spread through the Cryomancer's fingers as he tried again to block his enemy, and he connected with Rain's gauntlet. Loud crackling filled his ears as the armor turned to ice. The movement altered the Edenian's course with the sword, but instead of driving it through his trachea like he clearly intended, the blade pierced his left shoulder just above the clavicle.

The pain was so blindingly terrible that the Cryomancer's brain refused to register it for the longest moment, yet he was acutely aware of the sword sliding through his body and lodging itself into the ground, anchoring him into place. Kuai Liang felt involuntary tears leak from his eyes as he pawed helplessly at it and then at his enemy, but Rain calmly smirked as he pinned down his wrists and watched as the human started to weaken. He took a ragged breath and then slowly tilted his head to the side to look at Anya. Finally, the ice that surged through his palms and fingers receded into his blood.

* * *

Anya heard screaming, and then it dawned on her that the anguished voice was her own. Tears streamed uncontrollably down her cheeks and she covered her mouth with her hands to stifle the pain that yearned to break free as she watched Rain kill Kuai Liang. But her trembling palms couldn't muffle the sound, and before she knew it she was screaming once more. But her grief-stricken wails couldn't summon him back; they only served to capture Rain's attention.

_Run, Anya! _she heard him yell at her in her head.

"No," she sobbed, stubbornly arguing with the voice as the Edenian stalked towards her with an evil smirk on his face.

"Now it's just you and me, Princess," he mocked. "No third wheel to get in the way of things."

_Run!_

_I don't want to leave you,_ she protested, and it was true. She didn't want to leave his body here, unburied, alone to be ripped apart by the wild animals that lived in Outworld.

_But you've got to. _This time, the voice belonged to her mother. _That's just an empty husk now. It'll do no good to stay here on account of it._

Grudgingly, she acknowledged that Mamulya was right. Kuai Liang's body…it was just an empty shell. He wouldn't want her to let herself be captured and enslaved over it. At the thought, she cried even harder, but bolted once again to escape from Rain. She knew her friends from Earthrealm had to be close by, so she faintly decided to find one of them. But her real thoughts as she ran were on her love, and how that love was now gone, taken from her by the Edenian who still chased after her. Anger now mingled with grief, and though Anya had once vowed to do no harm to another, she now vowed to make the demigod suffer before she finally killed him.

The nurse wasn't quite sure how she found herself in one of the small temples lining the ravine floor, but she faintly thought her brain steered her there to see if she could find any weapons. Her jet of water, while effective on most of her aggressors, made almost no difference to Rain. It was like he was practically immune to the effects, probably a side effect of his Hydromancer heritage. She vaguely wondered if the same was true of her as well, and then she bitterly realized that she didn't even care. Either way, she needed a different weapon, and a place like this temple seemed like the spot to find it.

Still, as her feet stamped the dusty, golden floor, Rain's heavy boots scurried faster towards her, rapidly closing the distance. Anya had nearly turned a corner of this intricate, torch-lit maze reminiscent of the temples at Giza when something invisible suddenly compelled her to stop. Then, a shell of crystal clear water enveloped her like a womb, lifting her into the air, slowly pulling her backwards as she tried to scream. Her body swam through the water, unable to breathe, and she struggled to break free but to no avail. Finally, the bubble cracked open like an egg, spilling her and the water onto the floor.

"There you are, my little Princess," he greeted as he grabbed her and hoisted her to her feet.

"Go to hell," she growled through her tears as she fiercely elbowed him in the nose. He yelped as blood spurt from his nostrils, blinding him with teary pain, giving her enough time to kick him in the nuts. As expected, he fell to his knees with a loud wail.

"That's not even half of what you deserve, you son-of-a-bitch!" she screamed as she ran off, vaguely hearing the sound of water crashing over stone as her feet thudded on the ancient tiles.

Anya sprinted for another moment, finding herself in a large, ceremonial chamber that was as tall as it was long, but Rain's sudden appearance before her forced her to stop. She squealed in fright. Before she had a chance to switch directions, he drove his flattened palm into her chest, knocking her into a wall. Now she struggled to breathe as the air left her lungs, an especially difficult exercise given her recent jaunt through the temple. She clawed at her chest and throat to recover her breath, but before it came back, Rain had already buried his fingers in her long, ratty hair and started to drag her from the huge room by it.

"Get your hands off me, you disgusting pig!" she screeched when her air returned. She clawed at his wrists, but he held fast. His grip tugged violently on her scalp, flooding her brain with stinging pain.

And then: "Down, puppy!" A second later, Anya heard a loud _whack_. Rain immediately released her and stumbled into a wall. She tearfully rubbed her head and looked back. Where the demigod had been standing, a strange shimmer wreathed in smoke now distorted her perception. It gradually solidified until she made out the shape of a man, and then his details rapidly filled in. "You know I don't like it when you play too rough with people," he continued. "Bad puppy!"

"Tomas?" she mumbled incredulously. The last time she'd seen him, he'd been…not quite human. But now, save for a cybernetic arm, he looked fairly normal, almost exactly like he had when she'd peeked into his brain and saw the person, not the robot, she'd always heard so much about from Kuai Liang.

With a broad, ornery grin, the assassin put his hands on his hips like a cheesy superhero. "The one and only," he replied just as Rain recovered and lunged for him. Undaunted, Smoke said, "Sit, Ubu! Sit!" He waited until the Edenian had nearly reached him before he swung a fist at the man's face and punched him, knocking him to the ground once again. "Good dog," he finished.

Rain staggered to his feet a moment later. "I wonder if your mouth will be as smart when I'm ramming my storm sword through you like I did to your _pr̆ítel _just a few minutes ago," he growled, his lavender eyes almost black with fury now.

Smoke's grin instantly vanished, his silvery eyes looking to Anya for an explanation. She had none to give, so she nodded, new tears streaking down her face in hot tracks. Now _his_ face contorted in anguish as well as fury, and he looked at the Edenian in rage. "I'm going to kill you," he hissed, not even the slightest trace of mirth in his voice.

"You think you're strong enough, Enenra?" the other retorted.

Now Tomas blinked in confusion. "What did you call me?"

But Rain didn't answer. Instead, a powerful wall of water suddenly lifted him from the ground and propelled him feet-first forward, plowing him into Smoke's chest as if to cut completely through him. The force of the blow sent the Lin Kuei assassin flying through the air, but not before the demigod used his body to springboard backwards. He landed in front of Anya, his face no longer amused either. She knew it was futile, but she sprayed a jet of water at him, only to have him block her hand, grab her arm, and twist it painfully behind her back.

"Your feistiness is rapidly wearing thin, Annalise," he scolded as he wrapped his other arm around her neck.

She promptly bit his arm, sinking her teeth into his flesh like some sort of wild animal, ignoring the coppery taste of his blood as it filled her mouth. As he howled, she ripped out a large chunk of flesh, taking muscle with it as well. When he involuntarily let go, she whirled around and slapped him in his already-damaged cheek. A loud, sharp thud reverberated off the temple walls, but Anya didn't care. She was running again, this time towards Tomas to help him. But once again, Rain refused to let her go easily. He quickly caught her and tackled her.

"Get off me!" she yelped furiously.

"You didn't ask nicely," he countered. And then, another loud slap, this one metallic, hit the Edenian in the head. As he slumped over, Anya saw Kuai Liang holding a bloody sword in his hand.

"When are you going to learn, Rain?" he asked in a pained voice. "No means _no_."

* * *

Sub-Zero glanced at Anya, who seemed to be relatively unscathed. She gaped at him with an o-shaped mouth and eyes bugging from their sockets in shock, undoubtedly thinking he wasn't dead. He quickly decided if the whole 'Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei' thing didn't pan out, he should take up professional acting. On the hill, he'd pretended to die in order to trick Rain and buy himself some time lest the demigod kill him for real, but it took him longer to pull the sword out than he'd predicted, mainly because it hurt worse coming out than it had going in. But like ripping a Band-aid from a cut, he'd finally just did it fast, hoping his anguished howl didn't attract any unwanted attention. After he'd frozen the wound to stop the bleeding, he pursued Anya and Rain into the tiny temple.

"You're…you're alive," she whispered. It was more of a question than a statement.

"Yes, _now _you can sound surprised," he replied as she leapt to her feet and threw her arms around him.

"Go see what you can do for Smoke," he ordered after he briefly hugged her back.

"You're becoming a _real_ thorn in my side," Rain muttered as he got to his feet, clutching his bloody scalp.

"Well, what can I say?" he retorted. "You don't just kill me and walk away." He pushed Anya to the side, out of the line of fire. She yelped indignantly and gave him a look before she trotted towards Tomas, who was now rising to his feet in the opposite corner.

The demigod roared, not caring about either of them, his focus solely on his adversary. He broke into a sprint and sprang forward onto his hands, undaunted when a geyser of water exploded from the floor and propelled him upward. In midair, Rain flipped and then kicked Sub-Zero high on the chest. A short series of steps led to a raised dais behind him, and the blow sent him stumbling into them, forcing him to drop the Edenian's storm sword and flooding his lungs with resurgent pain. Though the sword wound hadn't been in a critical spot, it still hurt worse than almost any other injury he'd ever gotten in his life, perhaps save for the flail chest Shao Kahn had dealt to him almost two years prior. Rain chuckled as Sub-Zero groaned and gasped, retrieving his weapon from a nearby stair.

"You should be careful with that," he admonished. "It's a pretty big sword."

Suddenly, both men heard a whirring, mechanical sound, and when they looked, they both saw Tomas aiming his cybernetic palm at Rain; from his spot on the stairs, Sub-Zero saw the tiny weapons' bay doors opened and one of his small missiles pointed at the demigod's face. "Drop the sword, puppy," the assassin ordered, his gray eyes hard like steel. "Let's keep this a fair fight, shall we?" Rain narrowed his eyes but obeyed. He casually threw it to the side.

"I've got this, Smoke," Sub-Zero said in slight annoyance. He didn't need his friend to come to his rescue. "He's mine."

"Now what did Sifu Hydro always tell us about sharing?" the Czech man replied in faint amusement.

"Hydro?" Rain repeated, his face suddenly twisted in surprise. "How do you know Hydro?"

But he didn't wait for an answer; his confused expression only lasted a moment before he fired a high-pressured jet of water at Smoke at the same time he formed a large scythe made of water in his other hand. Though it streamed and bubbled in its form like a river, Sub-Zero heard an unmistakable metallic ring as it swung towards him quickly, barely giving him enough time to sink below the curved blade before it took his head completely off. The strike mostly missed him, but it shaved the top of his cowl and sliced through the seam. If he hadn't been wearing it, Rain would've scalped him. The black fabric slipped off his head, exposing his brown hair and ears, just as the water scythe bounced off a stone stair with a clang.

Kuai Liang wasted no time getting to his feet, in spite of the pain, but the Hydromancer calmly grunted and axe-kicked him in the face, now breaking his mask. Bits of black and blue bamboo fell to the floor and crunched beneath his knees when he fell to them again. This time, however, he threw a right cross at his opponent, but Rain skillfully blocked it and then spun into a reverse roundhouse that once more sent him flying across the room. He landed at Anya and Tomas' feet.

"You still got this?" his best friend joked as he lifted him to his feet.

"Oh, shut up," he snapped as he gasped for air, the pain in his clavicle still aching.

At that, a column of water enveloped Rain and whisked him away, only to deposit him beside the group of Earthrealm warriors. Relentlessly, he swung the scythe again, but Sub-Zero protected himself this time by forming a kori sword in his palms and deflecting the attack. Unexpectedly, he cut the scythe handle in two with his block, and the Hydromancer howled as it lost its form and sprayed water all over the ground. Rain staggered to the side, clutching his head as if the Cryomancer had just dealt him a terrible, psychic blow.

While Anya squealed in vengeful delight, Sub-Zero now used the opportunity to dart up Rain's extended knee like a stair, slide his arm around his enemy's neck until his head was tucked firmly against his chest, and then threw himself backwards. As he'd hoped, the demigod came with him, his feet flying backwards over his head as he sailed into a pillar nearby. He crumpled to the floor with a pained groan, but stopped the Grandmaster from stalking closer to him with another blast of water to the face. Sub-Zero accidentally dropped his kori sword.

"You foolish boy," he snarled as he got to his feet, sneering at his nemesis as the other frantically wiped the fluid from his eyes. "I am older than the entire human _race_. I am the High General of all the armies in Outworld. I am the son of an _Elder God_. Do you honestly believe you can defeat me?"

With that, he charged towards the Cryomancer and threw a punch for his head, but Sub-Zero sensed him coming and blocked his arm before the blow connected. He looked his enemy directly in the eyes. "Yes, I do," he snarled.

He quickly stepped into a roundhouse knee to the gut that forced Rain to double over with a loud moan, and before his opponent had time to recover, he kneed him again in the face. The impact now threw him up and back, letting Sub-Zero have enough space to uppercut him with a loud crack. Blood exploded from the Edenian's nose as he started to stumble, but the Cryomancer was ruthless as he slid on a sheet of ice into him, knocking him down even harder. As Rain toppled to the floor, stunned at how quickly the tables had turned, Sub-Zero fell backwards through sheets of ice only to spring up on the other side of his enemy just as the man was scrambling to his feet. A new kori sword sprang from his hands, and with perverse satisfaction, he thrust it through the Hydromancer's ribs near the heart, shoving it completely through as he wrapped his arm around the other's throat.

"Your sword is definitely big," he snarled into his choking enemy's ear. "But you know something, Rain? Mine's _bigger_." And with that, he twisted it hard, forcing the demigod to howl one last time before he threw him to the floor where he would bleed to death slowly.


	36. The Clash of the Ice Dragons

Sub-Zero panted hard, studying his fallen enemy. On the ground, Rain squirmed and whimpered pitifully, dying in slow agony. The Cryomancer couldn't stifle the satisfied sneer that crossed his face as he watched the Hydromancer writhe uncomfortably, his battered hand pawing at the icy sword rammed through his belly. Blood oozed from the wound, gradually pooling in a puddle beneath his purple and black armor, smearing along the ice as well. A surge of strange adrenaline pumped through Kuai Liang's veins, an overwhelming hatred and evil he'd never felt before in his life, compelling him to kneel beside the profusely sweaty demigod.

"Sorry if my sword's a bit hot for you, Rain," he said mercilessly. "Most people think I burn cold. It's actually quite the opposite."

"She's mine," the Edenian weakly croaked, his eyes drooping tiredly. "You can't keep me from claiming her-"

Sub-Zero didn't wait for him to finish his statement before he punched him in the face once more, the sharp crack of his skull breaking bouncing off the chamber walls in a strangely gratifying echo, knocking Rain completely out. A split second later, the demigod expelled a loud, ragged breath and then slumped like a sack of rocks onto his face.

"Is he…is he dead?" Anya asked timidly as she slowly approached.

The Cryomancer looked at her and nodded solemnly, the bizarre homicidal feelings rapidly fading into nothingness. "Yeah, he is."

She swallowed hard as if stifling relieved tears, then scowled as she promptly kicked Rain in the face. His motionless body flopped onto its side. "Serves you right!" she screamed at him, her face now contorted in rage. Then she kicked his chest for good measure.

"Okay, calm down, Tiger," Kuai Liang said as he got to his feet and put his hands on her shoulders. "He's gone now. You don't have to worry about him anymore."

He thought Anya would be happy, so much so that she'd throw herself at him in a show of love and affection. To his surprise, her angry lavender eyes narrowed at him a moment before she punched him in the gut. In shock, he doubled over with a grunt and staggered backwards, looking at her in disbelief as she marched after him. She had actually hit him quite hard.

"And you!" she squealed. "Stupid – goddamn – ninja – tricks! You – scared – the – _shit_ – out – of – me! I – thought – you – were – dead!" Every word she yelled at him matched a fierce slap to the bare skin on his arm.

"Ow!" he yelped as Smoke watched them in amusement. "Stop hitting me!"

"Fine," she hissed and looked at her guardian. "Will you hit him for me?" she asked him. Wordlessly, Tomas slapped Sub-Zero in the back of the head with his automated arm.

"Ow!" he cried again, rubbing his stinging scalp. "What are you, her trained lapdog or something?"

The cyber-ninja shrugged. "What can I say? I'm mad at you too."

"For what?" he replied indignantly.

"Because while you were playing possum, some of us were actually working."

Anya chuckled triumphantly. "See?" she said pointedly.

"You both can be mad at me, but I _had_ to pretend I was dead," Sub-Zero growled in annoyance. "I needed to buy some time."

"But…he _stabbed _you," she argued as her voice cracked. She blinked, and a few tears leaked out. "I watched you die. I thought…I thought…And I didn't like that at all." She covered her mouth and looked down at her bare, dusty feet.

"Yeah, well, now we're even," he replied coldly, understanding the look of anguish that crossed her face, remembering how heartbroken he felt a couple weeks ago when he thought _she_ was dead. And when he thought of _that_, anger slightly warmed his cheeks.

"What are you talking about?" she bristled in confusion.

"Your motorcycle accident," he said flatly. "When Frost made you crash. Stryker and Kabal got your message and passed it on to me. They also got cell phone video of it, and showed it to me. And I thought _you_ were dead, and it…it nearly killed me. So we're even."

"Hey, that wasn't my fault. I _should've_ been dead. That's a whole different thing than faking my death like you did."

"No, we're even," he insisted. "See, you only had to feel that way for a few minutes. I, on the other hand, got to mourn you for a week before I just happened to find you running from Quan Chi's army."

"It's not the same!" she snapped, her voice taking on an even more irritated edge.

"No, it's worse!" he snapped back. "You didn't even remember me!"

"Listen, pal-"

"Okay, that's enough," Tomas intervened, stepping between the two. "If you two kids don't stop arguing, I'm going to turn this car around and we're going home."

Sub-Zero scowled at him. "That's really funny, Tomas," he growled.

"Well, that _is_ what you pay me for," he shrugged. He paused. "Now look, it's completely obvious that you two are just itching to kiss and make up, and I for one wish you would already because you're clearly in love with each other. It's so sweet it makes me sick." Now he waited for someone to budge, but when neither Kuai Liang nor Anya refused to give in, he sighed impatiently and stepped behind his best friend. Then he grabbed his cheeks and made his mouth move, in spite of the Cryomancer's resistance. Imitating his voice, Smoke said, "Annalise, I'm a jackass, and I'm a bad dresser, and I smell funny, but I'm sorry and I love you." Then, as the Grandmaster gave him a dirty look, he stepped behind Anya and said in a falsetto voice, "Kuai Liang, I know you're a jackass, but for some strange reason I love you too so I forgive you. And I'm sorry too."

As he spoke, the Hydromancer's angry face cracked and she burst into giggles. "Okay, okay," she said to him. "That's enough. It looks like the vein on Kuai Liang's head is about to explode."

Smoke chuckled. "Yeah, that happens a lot because he's a testy little girl," he said as he shoved her towards his friend and then walked to the side to give them some space. "Could you hurry this up?" he asked. "We've still got to deal with Heckle and Jeckle and put a kibosh on their plan to raise that army."

Sub-Zero glared at Smoke, then sighed as Anya stepped to him and gingerly touched the stab wound in his shoulder. "Does it hurt much?" she asked.

"Not as bad as it could," he replied, gently clutching her dirty fingers while she rested her palm on his injury. Immediately, he felt better. Not just physically, though that was definitely a big part of it. No, he'd longed for her soothing touch for weeks now, ever since she'd left the Lin Kuei temple in a fit, swearing she'd never come back again. In fact, until her delicate fingernails finally tickled his skin, he hadn't realized just how much he missed the sensation, the subtle affection coursing from her to him, the mysterious way it rejuvenated him at the height of his exhaustion. Involuntarily, he rested his forehead on hers.

"Is that better?" Anya asked hopefully a long moment later. "I'm still getting the hang of this healing thing."

"Yeah, you did a good job," he told her in all sincerity. He felt the spot where Rain had stabbed him earlier. The skin was smooth, completely wound free.

"You know, I can kind of read your mind when I do that," she said, a slightly impish smile spreading over her lips.

"And?"

"And you like it when I touch you."

"I don't think that's exactly news, Ahn," he told her.

"Yeah, well, I never realized just how much or why."

"Well, now you do."

She smiled. "Now I do." With that, she stood on her tip-toes and slid her arms around his neck, planting a gentle kiss on his mouth that he returned in kind. Then, several long moments later, she pulled away and mischievously grinned.

"What?" he asked, both curious and slightly worried. He didn't trust the expression on her face. That was her ornery look.

Immediately, she nuzzled her nose against his earlobe and then whispered, "You know, when this is all over, I really think we should have angry sex."

Now Kuai Liang couldn't contain his amused chuckle as she giggled softly. "Oh you do, do you?" he replied.

Anya promptly kissed him again. "Yup. I think we both deserve it."

"But I'm not angry at you anymore," he argued.

"Oh, don't worry. I'll think of something to piss you off."

"I'm feeling the love, Ahn," he told her as Smoke rejoined them with amusement plastered on his face.

"Thank God," he said. "Now can we go?"

"Not yet," Anya replied as she let go of Sub-Zero and faced him. "I want to have a word with you too, pal."

"What did I do?" he yelped defensively, throwing his arms up in the air and taking a step back.

She smiled. "Nothing," she said. "Everything. You kept me as safe as you could, and you did a great job keeping me patched up. Thank you." She quickly threw her arms around Tomas' torso and hugged him tightly, just like he was really a giant teddy bear.

But the Cryomancer knew the Czech man wouldn't be able to help himself. Sure enough, the cyber-ninja looked at his best friend when she let him go and said, "Hold me, Kuai Liang. That was beautiful."

Sub-Zero crinkled his nose. "Hold yourself, weirdo," he snapped.

"Oooh, nice one," the other chuckled. "Come on. We need to go."

"I agree," the Grandmaster said.

He took Anya's hand in his and led her towards the exit while Smoke walked beside his other arm. Nobody spoke. There was no need to. Kuai Liang had both his best friend and the love of his life back, so for now, he was content to just enjoy the silence. And thank God, for once, that both of them let him. His peace lasted until they nearly reached the end of the maze, but suddenly, a ghastly green aura slithered across Anya's skin, enveloping her with all-too-familiar magic.

"Kuai Liang?" she half-whimpered, half croaked as her hands drifted to her belly. Then, as she began to choke and gasp for air, her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she collapsed into a heap on the ground.

"Anya!" he cried as both he and Smoke dropped to their knees beside her. "She's having a seizure!"

"No kidding!" Tomas said back. "Probably Quan Chi again. Trying to yank more energy from her. I'll bet the other prisoners are just as sick right now."

The Cryomancer pressed his palm against her extremely feverish forehead, releasing his ice through the skin of his palm. Bending to his will, it molded itself to the shape of her skull, forming something of an ice pack to cool her down. It didn't work.

"Moron, that's not gonna help," his friend admonished him, a worried look on his face.

"I'm not a doctor, I don't know what to do," he snapped back.

"I'm not a doctor either, but fortunately for you, I've got a whole mess of medicines on board, including anti-seizure." Quickly, the cyber-ninja tapped a sequence of black buttons on his robotic gauntlet before a tiny port opened near his elbow and pushed out a pre-filled syringe. Then he yanked up Anya's skirt to the thigh and jammed the medicine in. Finally, he looked at Sub-Zero once more. "I don't know how much that'll help. I don't think the pharmaceutical companies had black magic in mind when they designed this crap. We need to get her to Raiden, and fast."

"For once, I agree," he said as he scooped a still-shaking Anya into his arms and got to his feet. He resumed his path, stepping as fast as he could without actually running. Smoke stayed on his heels the whole time.

Outside, the normally dusky sky had turned a sickly green that perfectly matched the ether currently swirling around the Hydromancer, a product of the soulnado. Both men paused for a moment to stare at the vortex the size of the largest earthly tornado, twisting and pulsating as it stretched to the sky and beyond. But Sub-Zero couldn't worry about that at the moment. He was already on the move, determined to find Raiden and save Anya's life. God, he prayed he wasn't too late. Not really aware he'd done it, he lifted her torso so he could kiss her forehead. And then he heard an ear-piercing shriek that startled him. A split second later, someone small and wiry landed on his back, forcing him to drop Anya while also dragging him to the ground. The nurse rolled through the dirt and came to a stop at Smoke's feet.

"I'm ba-ack," a familiar, obnoxious voice teased him just before a set of teeth sank into the upper trapezius muscle that joined his neck to his shoulder. The mouth clamped on like a pit bull's, refusing to let go, even when the Cryomancer howled at the unbelievably jagged fire that now spurted blood down his back.

"Frost," he grimaced as he quickly wrapped his hands around the back of her neck, yanked her head down and into his chest, and then flipped her completely over his shoulder. She flopped onto the ground before him, but before she could recover, he hammer-fisted her in the nose.

Now it was her turn to howl, and as she writhed on the ground with tears and blood spurting through her slender fingers, Sub-Zero scrambled towards her. Though in obvious agony, she had the presence of mind to scoop a handful of dirt in her palm and throw it directly into his eyes, blinding him. Then she yanked her legs towards her chest to build momentum for a kip-up, the toes on both her boots slamming into his chin and knocking him backwards in an explosion of stars as she rolled back, before she finally leapt to her feet with a maniacal cackle.

"Oh, dear brother, why won't you just die like a good boy?" she asked in a melodious tone.

"I was just about to ask you that, _sister_," he growled as he wiped the grit from his face.

She had also wiped much of the blood from _her _face, and to his astonishment he saw that her battle with Scorpion had left a peculiar scar. Specifically, an ugly blue and purplish line stretched completely from her right eyebrow to the middle of her cheek, in exactly the same place the Grandmaster bore his. The only difference between the two, in fact, was that while Kuai Liang's was razor thin and so clean that it was surgically precise, Frost's scar cut through her cheek in jagged swipes like a zipper, the seams bulging hideously in several places. Her older brother momentarily could not catch his breath at the uncanny sight.

"Your face," he began when he finally recovered from the shock. "What happened to it?"

"What do you think happened?" she snarled. "Your pal, Scorpion, did this to me and then Quan Chi left it this way when he healed me to punish me for my failure."

"It's an improvement," Smoke called as he cradled Anya in his arms, tending to her.

"Whatever," she hissed. "Just fork over the Medallion, Sunshine, and I'll be on my way."

"Go to hell," Sub-Zero snarled as he started to throw an ice ball at her. She anticipated it and beat him to the punch, throwing one right back at him, giving him barely enough time to dodge to the side and sweep her.

Frost yelped as she fell to the ground, and then screamed when he dropped his elbow into her already broken nose. "You're not fit to be the Grandmaster of _any_ clan, let alone the Lin Kuei," he declared as he tried to elbow her again. This time, she skillfully blocked and then punched him, and before he knew it she had him on his face with his arm locked behind his back at an awkward angle. She twisted his captive wrist even more, enjoying his groans of discomfort. Then, once more, she sank her teeth into him, this time ripping open his bicep while growling like a ferocious animal.

Kuai Liang howled at the pain. She straddled his back as if he were a horse, so when he recovered from the bite a moment later, he decided to give her a ride. With a furious shout, he pushed his body up with his free hand, moving so quickly that it bucked her body to the side and she toppled onto her elbow, giving him the chance to scissor kick his legs over her head and twist his arm loose. Now they both scrambled to their feet. While Sub-Zero gingerly cupped the still-stinging and gushing bite wound on his arm, Frost dabbed at the blood dribbling uncontrollably from her nose.

"I'm not fit to be the Grandmaster?" she repeated with a nasal voice.

"Not remotely," he said, grimacing as he pumped his ice into the wound to dull the pain and slow the bleeding.

"Sounds familiar," she said. "I believe my father said it to me right before I _gutted_ him like a fish and then strung him up for the vultures!"

"He was obviously smarter than you, Frost," Sub-Zero couldn't resist saying.

"Oh, I don't know, Brother," she said in her annoying sing-song voice before she grinned insanely. "A fiddle of gold against your soul says I'd be better than you."

"I don't have time for this," he mumbled, looking at Anya. She'd stopped shaking, but she still seemed to be unconscious in Smoke's arms. His friend looked back at him and slightly nodded his head no, confirming his thoughts.

"All I want is the Dragon Medallion, Sub-Zero," Frost chirped.

"I don't think so," he retorted.

She clicked her tongue as she now prowled in front of him like a lioness circling a gazelle. "Poor little Anya doesn't look so good right now. Quan Chi's really doing a number on her, far worse than what I did. And I'm sure a certain obnoxious thunder god could help her, but your little sister is blocking your way. Sure is inconvenient when you're trying to save the damsel in distress, isn't it? Of course, I'll move. Just give me what I want."

Kuai Liang wrinkled his nose and sneered in defiance. "No."

"I want it now!" she screamed.

"Tough."

Now Frost's scream became an ear-piercing shriek that hurt his ears as she charged towards him. A split second before she reached him, her arm outstretched to punch him, he threw _his_ arm out like a sword and caught her directly in the throat, clotheslining her and knocking her to the ground. As she fell, though, she flailed her arms and threw thousands of tiny ice daggers at him. He scarcely had time to react before he formed an ice clone and back-flipped. The effigy took most of the damage, but some of his sister's weapons found their way through and sliced both of his arms with dozens of minor cuts. One of them, however, was more serious because it plunged into the thin skin just above his left eyebrow, sticking into the skull and weeping even more blood into his eyes.

Startled by the injuries, half-blinded by all the blood gushing from his head wound, Sub-Zero didn't quite see Frost use the opportunity to race towards his ice clone, flip onto its head, and then springboard from it onto him. They fell as one, but before they hit the ground, she sprayed a jet of ice beneath them, forming a slippery slide. A staunch chill prickled at the Cryomancer's skin when he landed, but he barely had time to notice it before Frost now aimed a new jet of ice behind her, using the subsequent energy to propel them both towards the temple wall like a booster rocket. He made no sound as they flew over the slide, but she screamed triumphantly, stopping only a moment before he slammed headfirst into the wall and she jumped to safety.

More stars exploded through his sight, and for a second he felt stunned stupid. And then sharp, stabbing pain filled his skull as his brain discerned what had happened. But by then, his sister had lifted him up by his tunic and started pounding him in the face. On her last punch, however, she got greedy, wound up her arm too far, and gave him enough time to duck out of the way when she threw it. She missed him entirely, but her momentum carried first her fist, then her face, into the stone wall before her.

While it was her turn to be stunned silly, Sub-Zero scurried to his feet and then promptly crescent kicked her on her exposed back, driving her body even further down. But now, just as it had with Rain, all his rage towards her overwhelmed him, poisoned his blood. He couldn't stop with just one hard kick. His first kick smoothly became a front snap kick to the ribs, and another, and another. He took sadistic joy in her grunts of pain, in the vomit she spewed when he found her gut. But he quickly tired of it – the pain he was inflicting wasn't enough – so he dug his fingers into her stark-white, spiky hair and yanked her head up so he could knee her repeatedly in the face. Only when he kneed her so hard that he knocked her backwards did he stop.

Frost slumped to the ground now, seemingly unconscious. Once more, the Cryomancer stepped towards her, still not satisfied with her level of suffering. For everything the bitch had done to Anya, to their mother, to his friends' families, to _him_, his protégée deserved a slow and cruel death. He would be the one to give it to her.

But just as he started to form a kori sword in his hands, Frost came alive once more, screaming as she rammed a newly made ice dagger through the top of his foot. Sub-Zero yelled in agony as cold lightning surged through his blood, carrying the new pain to his brain. He crumpled and staggered slightly, and while he did his sister yanked the weapon from his foot and drove directly into the same spot Sareena had stabbed him in when Outworld invaded Earthrealm. Frost spat out a mouthful of blood as he collapsed to his knees, then promptly kicked him in the crotch as hard as she could.

The pain from that was far worse than the knife through the foot, the gut, and hell, even the sword through his shoulder. Brilliant light – not colorful starbursts but blinding white light – consumed his vision as it sucked all the air from his lungs. When gravity forced him to fall on his side, he couldn't even resist its insistent pull. He smacked the ground weakly, trying to will his oxygen to return again while forcing his powers to his hands, and that is why, when Frost tried to stomp his face, her foot came down on a kori knife instead.

Sub-Zero's younger sister screamed as the blade burst through the top of her foot, and then to both their surprise, a jet of water blasted the female Cryomancer in the face. Shocked, trying to recover from the shot to the groin, the Grandmaster glanced over his shoulder and saw Anya standing a few feet away, her palm up and poised to shoot more water at her nemesis. Dark circles painted her eyes, and she was deathly pale, but none of that could mask her rage for his former pupil. Frost sputtered and flailed blindly while she hopped on her good foot, but the Hydromancer sprayed her a second and even third time, saturating the other woman and turning the dusty earth into a soupy, muddy mess.

When Frost finally slipped and fell into a large mud puddle, Anya shrieked a ferocious war cry before she charged towards the woman, leapt into the air, and tackled her. "_You – are – a – cunt – a – saurus – REX!" _she roared as she punched the Cryomancer in the face over and over. "I – _hate – _you!" She shrieked incoherently.

Anya started to punch Frost again, but this time her opponent shrieked and threw her off, rolling on top of her, then throwing her own punch into the nurse's face. "Who knew the Princess would be up for getting a little dirty?" she jeered as she slapped her. "Especially when she's clearly not in the best of health." Frost now backhanded her. "Careful, Princess, you might break a nail."

Anya furiously brought her knee into _Frost's_ crotch, quickly following up with a palm-strike to the face. The force knocked the Cryomancer over, and a splash of muddy water sprayed through the air. Both women were soaked and decidedly slicked with mud at this point, but neither of them seemed to notice or care. Frost was only momentarily stunned, but before she could react, Anya had already tackled her and ferociously slammed the other's face into the mud.

"That is my _man_ that you're messing with, you bitch, and when you mess with him, you mess with me!" the nurse yelled, yanking on her muddy hair to pull her head up, only to shove it down again.

But Frost only tolerated that once before she got out of it, twisted around to elbow Anya in the face, and laughed as blood spurted from the Hydromancer's nose. Immediately, she jumped onto the nurse's middle, straddling her, wrapping her fingers around her throat. "Oh, my dear, sweet Anya," she began with a wicked smile on her face, her dark blue eyes almost black with evil, "I've been looking forward to this." Frost started to freeze her enemy's neck, chuckling uncontrollably under her breath while Anya squirmed and punched at her to get free.

And then someone lifted the Cryomancer by the waist before throwing her several feet. Both women looked at Smoke in wild-eyed surprise as he waved his index finger and clicked his tongue at her in admonishment. "Now Frost, as much as it pains me to break up a girl-fight, I can't let you go at my friend like that." He grinned and then lifted Anya to her feet.

Frost, meanwhile, staggered tiredly to hers. "Tell me something, Smoke," she began as she wiped the mud on her face. She only succeeded in smearing it around. "Do you actually listen to yourself when you speak, or do you find that you drift in and out?"

"Let me at her!" Anya screeched as she darted towards the woman again, but Tomas caught her and held her back with a chuckle. Then he stared at their enemy, the mirth fading.

"You act like your arrogance is a virtue," Smoke said to Frost as Sub-Zero finally limped to them with his ice-charged palm outstretched and aimed for his sister.

Frost saw all three of them standing together, glaring at her as if ready to kill, and promptly turned and ran away. Smoke started to give chase, but as it turned out he didn't have to. As the female Cryomancer looked back and threw an ice ball at him, she immediately slammed into a new opponent. Nobody could contain their look of shock when they saw the ominous black figure towering above her, his arms crossed in condescension, his milky white eyes faintly amused. Frost fell on her butt from the force of the impact, and suddenly she seemed much smaller as she looked at him with wide, slightly fearful eyes.

"Hello, _Sister_," Noob greeted in that ghastly abundance of voices. "Going somewhere?"

"Brother, they're taking Quan Chi's prisoner!" she yelped as she scrambled to her feet. "Help me stop them."

"Somehow, I don't think you're terribly worried about what happens to Quan Chi's prisoner," he sneered behind his black mask.

"Brother-"

"You wouldn't happen to be trying to steal the Dragon Medallion from the Grandmaster, would you?" he asked pointedly.

Frost's sapphire eyes narrowed and she scowled, though with all the mud coating her face, her expression lost much of its cold fire. "And what if I am?" she snarled.

"Then even for you, that's a whole new mountain of stupid," he hissed back.

She didn't wait for Noob to speak again before she threw a right hook at him with a strangled cry, but he patiently chuckled as he blocked her. Then Saibot exploded from him and rammed into her like a freight train, knocked her into the dirt, and pinned her beneath his shadowy weight. Sub-Zero and the others watched in amazement as she screamed and fought to get free and couldn't while the wraith calmly walked to her head, produced a cobalt collar, and fastened it around her neck. Then, with some sort of dark magic that wreathed his fingers in purple, he fused the clasp shut so she couldn't remove it without help. Frost howled like a wounded animal again, more from rage than injury, with furious tears now streaming from her face.

"A gift from Quan Chi," Noob said to her. "He suspected you had something to do with why his spell against his prisoner wasn't working properly."

"It wasn't me!" she shrieked. "It was Rain and Sub-Zero!"

"I know," he replied. "But I don't care. I like you much better like this." With that, Saibot hoisted her to her feet. "Now, be a dear and finish what you started." The wraith thought his joke terribly funny, and he laughed wickedly at the notion of her fighting three angry Earthrealm warriors without the benefit of her powers to help her. Ruthlessly, Saibot shoved her towards them.

Kuai Liang was already charging towards her in spite of the limp in his step, the pain still exploding from his wounded foot and tender groin. His sister stood still in his path, seemingly paralyzed like a deer caught in the headlights, perhaps the first time she'd ever felt fear. The Cryomancer could care less, however. Sister or not, she had to go. When he'd gotten within just a few feet of her, she threw up her hands in surrender.

"I give up!" she squealed.

Her concession angered Sub-Zero further, and pitilessly he punched her in the jaw and tackled her with a roar before the weight of his body pinned her to the dust. Then, he started beating her face with his fists, ignoring the blood and the mud smearing his knuckles as well as the pain from the spots where they split.

"You're not so tough now, are you?" he cried. "Without your powers, you're nothing!"

Behind him, he vaguely heard Noob laugh with sadistic glee as his younger brother backhanded their sister for good measure. Then he wrapped his hands around her neck above her new collar to freeze her like she'd planned to do to Anya. His icy palms squeezed Frost's throat, and he realized _he _was laughing too, an insane quiet chuckle barely audible, as his power flowed into her skin and tinged it a deep blue. She struggled to push him off, but couldn't, and weakly croaked instead. Twisted satisfaction consumed him as her eyes began to roll into the back of her head, and he was content to let it. He drifted away in perverse pleasure.

And then he heard a voice calmly say, "Kuai Liang, stop." Startled back to his senses, he looked up. Standing before him was the Elder God, Himavat.


	37. The Pardoner's Tale

Kuai Liang looked at Himavat in disbelief. "Stop?" he repeated, not certain he'd heard the Elder God correctly. "You want me to stop?"

"That _is_ what I said," he replied. His ancient eyes looked sad and troubled.

"After everything she's done-"

"She is still your sister," the god finished for him. "And she is still my distant granddaughter."

"But Himavat-"

"You cannot undo what she has done," he began, "but you don't have to damn yourself on account of her. She has surrendered to you. If you kill her now, there will be one more terrible mark on your soul, and this one will be darker than all others combined because one of the gravest sins in the world is to kill your own family. If you kill her now while she's helpless, while she is no longer trying to hurt you, no amount of good deeds hereafter will cancel her murder out. You will be punished too, and nothing I do will be able to stop it."

The Cryomancer never took his eyes off Himavat's, and no one spoke for the longest moment. Finally, he heard Anya's voice say, "Kuai Liang? Himavat's right. She's not worth it. I don't want you to lose your soul over her because then she's beat you."

The Grandmaster snarled angrily as he now looked down on Frost's face. She looked back at him, her blue eyes full of terrified tears, but refusing to struggle or say a word. His rage overwhelmed him. "No!" he yelled as he throttled her and slammed her skull into the dirt again. "She's the reason I almost lost you. And my mother. And she murdered our friends' families. She deserves to die. She deserves justice." He started to freeze her once again.

And then he felt a hand on his shoulder. To Kuai Liang's astonishment, it belonged to Noob. The wraith knelt by the Cryomancer. "Brother," he began. It almost sounded like Bi-han's voice for once, not the voice that belonged to the demon inside of him. "Listen to me."

Sub-Zero glared at him. "Oh, so _now_ I'm your brother again? I wish you'd make up your mind, Noob, because your indecisiveness is starting to piss me off."

The wraith narrowed his eyes. "I've forgotten much since Scorpion killed me," he said. "That's what going to the Netherrealm is, Kuai Liang. It's forgetting." He paused, sighed, and then resumed. "But I remember that for our whole lives, you followed me everywhere like a puppy. You wanted to know everything I knew and do everything I did. And I always let you come with me when I was allowed to. But this time, I _won't_ let you follow in my footsteps. It's too late for me, Brother. But it's _not_ too late for you."

"This is not justice," Himavat said to him. "But I will give that to you, if you wish."

"How?" he demanded to know. Like a pressure cooker about to blow, the Cryomancer could no longer contain the rage building inside of him. It started to leak out at the corners of his eyes. He felt so angry, so confused, so uncertain.

"Make Frost sit up, now. Hold her tightly. And don't let her look away for a second."

Sub-Zero glared from the Elder God to her several times before he finally grunted and obeyed. He forced Frost to sit up, and he locked his arm through hers, keeping her immobile. Tired, wounded, and dirty, his sister didn't resist, though her eyes were full of trepidation and uncertainty as to what sort of punishment awaited her. Everyone's eyes fixed on Himavat as he gently cut his hands through the air.

Suddenly, Outworld and all its horrors disappeared, giving way to a scene in Earthrealm. From high up a mountain they saw a beautiful beach at sunset, with a red sun sinking into a midnight blue sea where whitecaps formed and dissolved quickly into the ocean water. In the lush forest beyond the sandy shoreline, a tiny village with Japanese-style houses broke through the trees. And now Kuai Liang saw his sister, her long white hair flowing gently on the wind, sitting beneath a wild cherry tree on a grassy slope above the village. Her eyes were dark and sunken as if she hadn't slept in years, and there was such terrible pain reflected in them that for a moment, Sub-Zero felt as miserable as she looked.

Squatting on her knees in her awestruck brother's arms, Frost gazed around while sudden realization hit her, prompting grief-stricken tears to stream down her face. For the first time since Sub-Zero had met her, there was no arrogance in her expression, only agony. She wailed and buried her face in his arm, but he yanked her head back by her hair and forced her to look.

"No!" she yelped, fighting to get free. "I don't want to remember this!"

"Too bad," he hissed as Noob cautiously took a place by their side, standing with arms crossed, and remaining silent. "You're going to take your medicine."

"Please, Kuai Liang, have mercy on me," she begged.

"You've _got _to be kidding me," he snapped as he clamped down on her body tighter.

"You sit out here a lot," a deep voice said in Japanese to the young woman under the tree, interrupting the siblings' struggle. The younger Frost looked up, and the Cryomancer followed her line of sight to an elderly man carrying a staff engraved with strange red symbols.

"Who are you?" she demanded to know, responding in Japanese as well. She tensed, and Sub-Zero saw cold fog wafting from her fingertips. "I've seen you lurking around a lot lately."

"I'm just a traveler," he cryptically replied. "My name is Kiyoto." He looked at her expectantly, wanting her to give her name.

Miyuki shook her head. "I don't care. Go away and leave me alone."

"You know, I think I've heard of you," he said, ignoring her directive. "I heard that a long time ago, the Tatsuyoshi clan took in an American baby. You're her, aren't you?"

"Is it that obvious?" she half-snarled, her face an annoyed mask.

"Shame about your real family," he said. "That had to be hard growing up like that, knowing that about them. Well, I'll be on my way," he said as he started to hike down the hill.

But naturally, Miyuki wasn't having it. "Wait!" she yelped as she leapt to her feet and grabbed him by his sleeve. "You know my real family?"

"Of course I do! But…you don't?" It was obvious to Kuai Liang that this 'Kiyoto' was manipulating her, but for whatever reason, his sister bought into his game.

Miyuki looked away. "No," she muttered. "My _Otousan_ told me never to speak of it."

"Then it's probably for the best. They're not good people. You're better off."

"You could…you could tell me," she suggested hopefully. "I wouldn't tell him I knew. I could just pretend. I just want to know where I came from."

The man looked at her thoughtfully. "Well, ordinarily I would never go against a child's father, but in this case, I think a person has a right to know where she comes from."

"I agree," she said.

Kiyoto smiled and pointed to the tree with his staff. "Let us sit," he suggested. She obeyed, and he followed before he began to speak. "You were born in the United States," he began. As he spoke, the scene shifted again, but this time his voice carried over as if narrating it. _And your father, your real father, was notoriously cruel. He had been raised in your rival clan, the Lin Kuei, you see. But he took an American wife so he could have some sons and heirs to his legacy._

Sub-Zero studied the house that now appeared before them and recognized it immediately. It was his mother's home. Late autumn, a bitter chill hung in the nighttime air and coated the grassy yard in frost. Suddenly, the front doors of the antebellum mansion swung open, and he saw a much younger Bi-han carrying a bundle in a pink blanket with one hand while dragging his two-year-old brother along with the other. The toddler was bawling in terror. A moment later, An Zhi burst through the door after them. With a ferocious grunt, he lobbed an ice ball across their path, freezing the grass solid. When the children ran onto it, they immediately slipped. Kuai Liang harmlessly landed on his butt, but Bi-han refused to let go of the baby cradled in his arm. A loud crack cut through the still night when the oldest sibling landed directly on his elbow and screamed in stunned agony. But he refused to drop Sarah.

The infant had been wailing just like her older brothers, but Bi-han carefully set her on the grass as he cried in pain. He then scrambled towards his little brother to help him up, but An Zhi had reached him by that point and squeezed his shoulder to subdue him. As ice flowed into the boy's body, his eyes dulled and rolled into the back of his head. Sub-Zero glanced up at Noob, but his undead brother's eyes didn't even blink. Now their father did the same to the toddler in spite of the tiny boy whimpering at his feet.

_"An Zhi hated girls,"_ Kiyoto's distant voice spoke as they watched the middle-aged Cryomancer now scoop his daughter into his arms and look at the bawling infant with loathing. _"They were useful to him only for procreation. Even still, on the night he stole his sons for the Lin Kuei, he took you as well. Sarah."_

The scene shifted, and this time a crowd of clan heads and gang leaders gathered in an abandoned warehouse. An Zhi stood at the front of the circle, scowling at them all as they took their seats. He wore the same blue warrior's uniform that Bi-han and Kuai Liang both adopted later on, but also wore a long black coat trimmed in black fur, and in that outfit he looked imposing. Sub-Zero trembled slightly when he saw his father cross his arms and survey the men; even though he knew the man was long dead, he still had the power to strike fear into his younger son's heart.

_It was an established truth that An Zhi was cruel and intimidating,_ Kiyoto said, _but it was also an established truth that he was a shrewd businessman who knew the power of money. And he wanted it._

"Why'd you call a meeting in the dead of winter, An Zhi? It's colder than a well-digger's ass," an Australian man asked impatiently. He was a large man with arm muscles bigger around than Sub-Zero's waist, and a black dragon tattoo curling around his right shoulder to his wrist.

"I have something I want to sell, Trevor," the Cryomancer replied, his voice calm but icy. Once more, it unnerved Sub-Zero. "It's worthless to me. But before I throw it out with the trash, I thought I'd see if anyone wanted it."

In Kuai Liang's arms, Frost started to cry harder while An Zhi lifted an eyebrow and signaled a much-younger Sifu Dimitri to approach. The Russian man had been one of his, Bi-han's, and Tomas' teachers, so it looked odd when they saw him carry a tiny baby still wrapped in her pink blanket to An Zhi.

"A baby?" Trevor asked in confusion.

"This is my daughter," the other sneered spitefully. Do I have any takers?"

Kiyoto's voice returned to narrate as the warriors now watched the clan and gang members argue back and forth. _My dear, little Sarah,_ he said, _your father initially wanted to throw you over the cliff by the Lin Kuei temple. But then, he realized it could be more profitable for him to sell you into slavery to one of his enemies. He didn't particularly care if the winner of his auction made you a prostitute or a personal plaything. Many of these men were pedophiles, and naturally they were the first to start bidding for you. You were just old enough to molest. Your father knew that, and was prepared to give you to one of them anyway, provided the bidder paid him well enough. _

"Oh, my God," Kuai Liang heard Anya gasp at the revelation. He glanced at her and saw her hand clamped over her mouth in disbelief and revulsion. Beside her, his best friend also looked horrified, but he also looked grief-stricken, undoubtedly hating himself for doing to Ava what An Zhi intended to do to Frost.

"Stop this!" the female Cryomancer shrieked.

_Nearly everyone in this meeting was interested in buying you, Sarah, _Kiyoto continued. _But one man in particular wanted you more than anything. _

Now the scene focused on a middle-aged Japanese man wearing a black suit and black tie printed with a red dragon. The expression on his face suggested a terrible struggle within, like he couldn't decide if he wanted to bid on the baby or not.

"He's with the Tatsuyoshi clan," Noob declared, and Kuai Liang knew he was right. They were the old Lin Kuei's rival enemies. An Zhi particularly hated their Grandmaster, Shinji, and often spoke of eradicating the clan off the face of the earth. Sometimes, Oniro entertained his thoughts. Sub-Zero never understood the animosity his father felt for their rivals, and no explanation was ever given. But now, when he remembered how Frost called her father "Shinji," he suddenly knew where she learned how to fight.

"That's your _Otousan_, isn't it?" he whispered to her. "That's Shinji." In his firm grip, he felt her faintly shake her head yes.

"$185,000," An Zhi declared with finality. "Will anyone bid any higher?" No one answered. He thinly smiled. "Very well. Going once, going twice-"

"500,000," the Japanese man promptly shouted, startling everyone in the room into hushed chatter. But An Zhi and the man both stayed silent, just staring at each other.

Finally, the Cryomancer said in amusement, "I'm stunned, Shinji. I'm fairly certain you only needed to pay $200,000 to kill one of my children."

"I don't wish to kill her," Shinji announced. "Nor do I wish to make a slave of her. I want to adopt her."

The other chuffed, one of the rare times Kuai Liang ever saw the man smile. And like all the other times, it was wicked and condescending. "Well, isn't that sweet," he said drily. "And so very noble. Adopting your worst enemy's daughter? Whatever will you tell her when she's older?"

"That is my problem," the other said. "Do we have a deal?"

"Unless someone else wishes to outbid you," he replied, scanning the room. Not surprisingly, there were no other takers. "Very well," he soon said. "She's yours, Shinji."

Soon the Earthrealm warriors watched the Japanese man cradle tiny Sarah in his arms as he trekked from the warehouse into the winter's night. A gentle snow was falling. She cooed. With a serene smile, he pulled her blanket around her tighter, and then looked up at the dark sky. In the soft white glow of the floodlights, they saw tiny snowflakes land on his cheeks, his forehead, and his hair. He closed his eyes for a moment and then looked back at his new daughter.

"Come, my little snowflake," he said softly. "It is time to go home now."

In Sub-Zero's arms, Frost whimpered. "Please stop," she begged softly as they now found themselves inside a large _minka _house, probably Shinji's. Several Japanese men wearing black robes embroidered with red dragons crowded inside of it, most of them terribly unhappy judging by the scowls on their faces.

_ The problem, Sarah, was that while Shinji and his wife had wanted children more than anything, none of the other members of the Tatsuyoshi wanted you any more than An Zhi did. _

"How could you bring that witch into our village, Shinji?" one of the clan elders yelled at him.

"I do not see a witch when I look at her," the other calmly said. "I see a baby in need of a family."

"Do not play word games with me," the outspoken man snapped. "If it's true what you said and An Zhi is her birth father, then you know what kind of a monster she'll become. She is Lin Kuei!"

"The Lin Kuei do not love their daughters like we do," he retorted. "It is true that her father is our enemy-"

"How stupid are you?" another elder challenged. "He simply handed his daughter to his most hated enemy? That is terribly suspicious! I'm shocked you didn't think so, Shinji."

"He is only interested in money," the Grandmaster said.

"And power," the first man added. Sub-Zero nodded in agreement. He wasn't wrong about that, and he had the sinking feeling that the second man had made a valid point as well. An Zhi had seemed uncharacteristically complacent towards the man he'd held nothing but contempt for as long as he could remember.

"This child will be the death of us all," a third man spoke. "Her powers come from evil spirits passed down to her by her father. She is a curse on us all. She has to go."

"I agree," said a fourth. The first and the second men nodded.

"Enough!" Shinji yelled. "You sound like superstitious fools. There is no evil inside of her but what we teach her. And I will teach her goodness, the way of peace. But my little Miyuki is _not _going anywhere. And if anyone has a problem with that, let him come forward and challenge me now. From this day forward, she is _my_ daughter. She will know nothing of An Zhi, her real family, or her ties to the Lin Kuei. I forbid anyone of saying a word to her about it."

The scene abruptly changed. Now Shinji, wearing a black _yukata_ embroidered with a red dragon, walked up the beach. His face was stern, and he carried himself with obvious pride, but even still there was a profound kindness and wisdom in his almond-shaped eyes.

Now a pretty girl of about five or six bounded towards the Grandmaster. She was small and wiry, her body practically swimming in her white _yukata_ printed with pink cherry blossoms, but she seemed healthy enough regardless. Her dark brown hair had been braided and tied into a knot on her head, and someone had pinned a cherry blossom just above her ear. Unlike Shinji, the girl was clearly Caucasian, and when Sub-Zero saw blue eyes to rival the sea, he knew she was his sister.

"She looks like you did, Kuai Liang" Noob announced. "You were spindly like that too."

"_Okaasan_ always said I was too small," Frost muttered sadly. "She was always trying to fatten me up. She always gave me extra rice and wouldn't let me leave until I ate it all."

"_Otousan_!" the girl squealed as she giggled. She ran into his outstretched hands and hugged his waist. Now the Grandmaster's hard expression softened into a wide smile, and Kuai Liang felt a twinge of jealousy. Evidently, her adoptive father loved her far more than An Zhi loved him and Bi-han. She had been lucky.

"Look what I learned how to do!" she chattered away in Japanese as she backed away from the man. She held out her right hand. White fog wafted around it as a small blue energy orb grew in her palm. Suddenly, the light within faded and solidified to reveal a jewel-shaped ball of ice. Now Kuai Liang smiled. He remembered his similar discovery when he was a child.

"You are so smart, my little snowflake," Shinji told her as he knelt beside her in the sand.

"I showed this to _Okaasan_ and her friends when they were having tea," she said. "She got mad at me, and her friends called me a _majo_. And so did Hoshi and Yukari. Why'd they call me that, _Otousan_?"

The man inhaled deeply and hung his head. "Sweet, little Miyuki," he began, "they called you that because they believe you have an evil spirit living inside of you."

The girl frowned and looked at her little ice ball. "But…why?"

"Because of what you can do." He rested a hand on her open palm. "They do not understand your powers like I do. They do not trust them, and so they do not trust you. They also think you're evil because of who your real family is. Your real family was not good people. I saved you from them. Many in our village thought I was wrong to bring you home. The Tatsuyoshi are afraid of you, Miyuki."

The child's face contorted and a single tear slid down her cheek. "But I didn't do anything wrong," she argued as she stuck out her bottom lip stubbornly. Now she looked like Bi-han did when he was a child and got upset.

"No, you did not," he agreed. "You are exactly what you are meant to be, my little snowflake. And I am proud of you." Shinji smiled reassuringly at her as he wiped the tear away from her face. "But to save you from unnecessary pain, I forbid you from speaking of your real family, and I also forbid you from using your powers in front of the rest of the Tatsuyoshi."

She frowned again. "But _Otousan_, that's not fair!"

"Do not argue with me, Miyuki," he said sternly, his smile fading and his eyes growing hard. She stuck out her bottom lip even more, but obeyed. He sighed a moment later. "I will take you from the village from time to time so that you can safely use your powers without the others knowing. But you know I am busy, _Musume_, so we will not be able to go all the time."

Miyuki smiled as she hugged Shinji. "Thank you, _Otousan_!" she said. Her eyes sparkled happily.

"It didn't work," Frost mumbled in Kuai Liang's arms.

"What didn't work?" he asked.

She craned her head around to look her brother in the eyes. "The villagers…they always called me _majo_," she explained. "Even when they thought I couldn't hear them. I had…I had no real friends because no one wanted to play with a witch whose family was Lin Kuei. I just had Kimihiro and Ruriko, my little brother and sister. And then I didn't even have them." Her face crumpled, and more tears flooded out as she faced forward again.

* * *

**Author's Note: I'm sorry I had to leave everyone hanging right there, but that was a logistical thing to make this chapter easier on your guys' eyes. I had originally intended Frost's story to be one chapter, but as I was working on it, I realized that to do it justice like I really wanted, it was going to be over twenty pages long on Microsoft Word. That translates into a lot of strain on your eyes. So I decided to break it up into two smaller chapters. So, this wasn't intended to be a cliffhanger. But I promise you, in the next chapter you'll be rewarded for your patience. Finally, you'll really understand why Frost is so batshit crazy. Hopefully, you're starting to get a taste of why, but after the next chapter there will be no doubt ;)  
**

**Also, to the people who've recently added me to their favorite authors' lists, I want to thank you. I typically like to send a personalized thank you to everyone individually, but I got busy and lost track of your names. I apologize. But yes, thank you so much for that. I'm so flattered that you want to read my stories! And as always, I appreciate everyone who's reading, even those who stay in the shadows. It's the most encouraging thing in the world. Thank you all too! **


	38. Cold Snap

"I don't get it, Frost," Sub-Zero growled. "Your _Otousan_ saved you, took you in, raised you. He seemed like a decent man. Meanwhile, Bi-han and I were subjected to years of An Zhi's abuse. So how is it _you_ wound up becoming the serial killer?"

"I was wondering the same thing," Noob said flatly.

Frost bitterly chuckled through her tears. "It's called survival," she replied. "But I forgot. You two, at best, are functional morons."

Kuai Liang jerked her arms behind her tighter, jarring her shoulder sockets violently until she yelped in pain. "Do I _look_ like I'm in the mood for your smart mouth?" he snapped.

And then time fast-forwarded several years before their eyes, but finally stopped when the beach near the Tatsuyoshi village was dark. Miyuki was much older now, a teenager, though her hair had yet to turn white. Chocolate brown and shiny, it hung down her back in a tight braid. She wore the black clothes of the ninja, obviously training to be a kunoichi. The Earthrealm warriors watched as she played with a glowing blue globe fueled by her Cryomancy, grinning as she used her fingers to pass it around the inside and outside of her hand.

"I'm getting better, _Otousan_," she said proudly.

"Yes, Miyuki. But now, make figure-eights with it." He paused. "_Without_ dropping it this time, please." He said the last part like an afterthought.

She laughed. "You're just worried I'll accidentally freeze your boots again, aren't you?"

"The thought _had_ crossed my mind." Now Shinji laughed and she joined him, once more filling Sub-Zero with bitter jealousy as he watched her practice controlling her hands with the figure-eight exercise. _He _had accidentally frozen An Zhi's boots when he was roughly sixteen, and the man had beat him with a cat o'nine tails to punish him for his lack of control.

The mysterious Kiyoto's voice now returned. _Your Otousan was a wise man, Sarah, but he foolishly underestimated your real father. He should've listened to the Tatsuyoshi elders when they insisted An Zhi was planning something diabolical. _

Kuai Liang now saw An Zhi in his blue tunic at the head of a large squad of nearly twenty Lin Kuei, all of them crouched by a tree on a hill that overlooked the Tatsuyoshi village. When Sub-Zero saw them, his heart sank. He recognized the evil expression in his father's face, that predatory stare. The Cryomancer was out for blood.

"Master, what are your orders?" one of the masked men whispered.

"We're going to raze the village to the ground," he replied matter-of-factly. "But first, we're going to Grandmaster Shinji's home to kill his family. Grandmaster Oniro has willed it so." Now An Zhi looked at them. "There is a teenage girl living in his house. She is not Japanese. Destroy her first. _Burn _her."

"But Master, wouldn't it be simpler to kill them in their sleep?" a younger assassin pointed out.

The Cryomancer narrowed his eyes, then promptly threw up his palm and sprayed a jet of ice at the man who'd dared to talk out of turn. As the other assassins watched in horror, and the Earthrealm warriors did too, the bewildered victim's mouth formed an o-shape as his body rapidly solidified into a frozen statue.

"Yes, it would," he answered the corpse. "But not nearly as gratifying."

_What Shinji didn't understand was how profound your father's hatred for you was. He never guessed how much An Zhi wanted you dead. The only thing he wanted more was to see you suffer._

The beach scene returned again, and Miyuki had just dropped her ice ball, though this time she'd avoided freezing her father's shoes. Shinji sighed. "Perhaps it is time to stop for the night. I think you are getting tired, my little snowflake. Besides, I have a birthday gift for you."

She smiled. "But _Otousan_, I thought a trip to the beach to practice my powers _was_ my birthday present."

He smiled back as she approached him, and then they both slowly strolled towards the village, her arm tucked beneath his shoulder and draped casually around his waist. "It was, Miyuki, but today is an important birthday. It is not every day that a father's daughter turns sixteen. You are practically a woman now, and a fine one. I am so proud of you."

She smiled and squeezed him tightly, kissing him on the cheek as they walked. "I love you, _Otousan_," she told him with a radiant smile. "So what is this present you're giving me?"

"You'll see soon enough, _Musume_." Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks and gazed into the distance.

Miyuki hadn't even noticed. "Oh, can't you give me a little hint-"

"Stop!" the man barked abruptly, making her jump. "There's a fire!" He pointed to the houses faintly concealed by the jungle trees, the rooftops crackling beneath towering pillars of flame.

For a second, Miyuki stood beside him, paralyzed. Then she screamed, "We have to help them!" and immediately bolted towards the village.

"No, Miyuki, wait for me!" Shinji cried as he chased after her, quickly falling behind his much younger and much faster daughter.

The scene returned to An Zhi, who stood in the midst of the chaos with his arms crossed. If he noticed his assassins engrossed in combat with the Tatsuyoshi ninjas, he didn't show it. His men had already set several houses on fire, including the Grandmaster's. The Earthrealm warriors saw his eyes twist and narrow; though his mouth was concealed by his mask, as he stared at his adversary's burning home his cruel sneer was painfully apparent. He'd blocked all the exits with thick sheets of ice, and by the time the angry flames licked them to nothingness, everyone inside would have choked to death on heat and smoke. At the moment, Shinji's wife and children still lived, and they knew they were alive because their frantic pleas for help drowned out all other sounds of the massacre. But An Zhi remained unmoved.

Still, even the cold-hearted Cryomancer couldn't contain his look of shock when a crazed shriek cut through the moonless night and he saw his teenage daughter charging up the hill to her house. He clearly had been under the impression she'd been trapped inside with her adoptive mother and siblings. When Miyuki caught sight of An Zhi, she stopped, hesitating. Their eyes met for the longest moment, but finally her expression changed from profound worry to profound anger. A dark shadow crossed her face, a glimpse of raging, psychotic evil. Kuai Liang shuddered as he studied her; _that _was the Frost he knew and hated.

"Get away from my house!" she screamed inhumanly at him in Cantonese, the language of the Lin Kuei, as she flung her arm around, spraying hundreds of ice daggers at the intruder.

If the situation hadn't been so grave, Sub-Zero might've laughed at his father then. Frost actually managed to catch the oldest Cryomancer off guard, barely giving him enough time to form an ice shield around his arm, but throwing her knives at him with such terrific velocity that the momentum knocked him down the hill in spite of it. The fighters heard the wicked man grunt as he rolled uncontrollably towards the bottom of the dirt road.

Sub-Zero never took his eyes off the younger version of his sister. Miyuki had already smashed her way through the first ice blockade, having delivered a powerfully and expertly executed front snap kick to it. The screams from her adopted family grew louder now, their voices no longer muffled by the barricade.

"Miyuki, stop!" Shinji's voice yelled at her as he scrambled towards her. "It's too dangerous! Don't go in there!"

"I won't leave them!" she stubbornly replied before he reached her. Her courageously stubborn jaw set, the female Cryomancer dashed over the threshold. Flames engulfed everything – the furniture, the paintings, the toys – but there was no sign of her mother, brother, or sister. Black smoke roiled towards her like a wall of thick fog, filling up her nostrils, choking out her air. She coughed and tried to cover her nose and mouth with her ninja garments.

"_Okaasan!_" Miyuki screamed in Japanese, her voice heavily shaded with panic. "Kimihiro! Ruriko! Where are you?" The smoke stung her eyes, and they watered now, cutting clean streaks through her otherwise filthy face.

"_Musume!_" a woman's voice shrieked.

"Miyuki!" a boy's voice called back at the same time, his voice drifting from above. She glanced up and saw them standing on a balcony overlooking the main room in the house. The little Japanese girl beside him stretched her arms towards her sister, whining for the Cryomancer teenager to grab her. Fire chewed through the walls around them, and from Kuai Liang's vantage point, they appeared to be trapped. Sure enough, the ten-year-old Japanese boy added, "We're stuck!"

"Jump down!" she called. "I'll catch you! _Okaasan-_"

Miyuki never got to finish her thought because at that moment, part of the roof collapsed onto her family's heads, the flaming rubble smashing the balcony to the ground as well. Tons of burning debris buried half the house and threatened to entomb her as well. She dove to the side to avoid a fiery beam falling onto her head, and when it harmlessly landed on the floor beside her, it exploded in a shower of red-orange embers that scorched her clothes and singed her now dirty and disheveled braid. Miyuki didn't even notice because she heard her seven-year-old sister wailing in agony from somewhere in the rubble. A moment later, her _Okaasan_ moaned lowly, harmonizing with Ruriko's horror.

"_Okaasan_!" she now cried, tears streaming down her soot-stained cheeks. The female Cryomancer quickly stood and lunged for her family, but more of the roof rained onto the main room and stopped her in her tracks. She screamed in frustration. And then something strong grabbed her from behind; a bewildered look crossed her face until she realized it was Shinji dragging her back outside.

"No!" Miyuki yelled at him as she struggled to break free of his grip. "Let me go! I have to save them."

"No is right, my little snowflake," he replied, his voice cracking as he wrapped his arm around both of hers and held her even tighter. The Grandmaster's face was contorted in pain, his cheeks stained with fresh tears, as he sank his head onto her shoulder and dragged her to the dirt.

"Let me go! I can still help them!"

"No, _Musume_," he argued, "you can't. You'll only get yourself killed, and I can't bear to lose you too." With that, his voice crumbled entirely and he began to sob. "They're already gone. Their bodies just don't know it yet."

It finally dawned on her, and she began to bawl in her father's arms as they both listened to the inhuman shrieks of her mother and sister float through the air. In Sub-Zero's arms, Frost cried with the same anguish. He couldn't blame her. When he imagined watching Maggie burn to death, or Anya, Tomas, or Bi-han, he felt similar torment. He squeezed his eyes shut to stifle the pained tears creeping to his eyes for his sister. Finally, the last parts of the roof buckled and brought down the rest of Shinji's house, and as each story collapsed onto the one below it, a fiery orange cloud roiled into the air and then escaped into the night. Only then did Miyuki's mother and sister stop screaming.

The young Cryomancer let her _Otousan _hold her for several minutes as they cried in each other's arms. Quickly, on the other side of the dirt road, on the side away from the hill, the Earthrealm warriors saw several ghostly shadows rise. Miyuki and Shinji sensed them too. They strained their eyes and the shadows grew from the ground. Soon there was no doubt: three or four tall black and gray clad figures, their faces concealed by cowls and masks, were standing on the slope, looking down on them. So dark and stealthy were they that they seemed like black holes in the deep forest shade behind them, but their eyes were glittering pinpoints of light from the fire before them. They looked decidedly demonic and monstrous in that moment, even to Kuai Liang. Then the Lin Kuei assassins slowly advanced.

Both father and daughter scrambled to their feet. Miyuki shrank to Shinji's side. She was hardly less terrified than he was; she shook as if bitter cold, but her terror was swallowed up by a sudden fury, and that familiar evil blackness returned to her eyes. She wanted blood. The desire laid hold of her, and Kuai Liang was certain she could think of nothing else. Perhaps she did not forget her _Otousan's_ teachings to use her powers wisely, but something compelled her to disregard her lessons, and she obviously longed to succumb. The struggle with it was written on her face. She could not speak. Shinji stared at her, but she would not look at him. Instead, Miyuki closed her eyes as the assassins crept ever closer.

And then they attacked. She opened her eyes once more. Cruelty overwhelmed their blueness, and so did bloodlust, a need for revenge so strong it could never be cured. Suddenly, Miyuki looked much older, and sinister. She looked just like An Zhi. She shrieked as the first man charged towards her and Shinji with a katana brandished high over his head, then aimed an ice ball at him. It slammed into his abdomen and froze him where he stood, his body permanently fixed into that attack posture.

A second assassin attacked her from behind, lassoing her with a thin rope, but now Shinji stepped in and yanked the man to him. He hit the Lin Kuei warrior in the chin with his open palm, forcing him to drop his end of the rope, and he had started to elbow him when Miyuki jammed a long kori knife into their enemy's gut and dragged it towards his neck with one, violent swipe. Blood from all the severed arteries sprayed onto both her and her father, but if she realized it, she didn't show it. She laughed in bitter, wicked satisfaction as he gurgled and choked on his last breath before he slumped to the ground, dead.

Now Miyuki faced the third assassin while Shinji fought the fourth. This one attacked her with a spear, but staff combat was one of her greatest martial strengths, and she stepped aside when he thrust the spearhead towards her. As the weapon glided by, she grabbed it, twisted it up with a hard jerk, then head-butted its owner to stun his grip loose. Her plan worked flawlessly, and she disarmed him. Quickly, she struck his face and then his throat with it before she twisted her body completely around and cracked the handle across the back of his neck, easily breaking the vertebrae hidden within. The assassin collapsed to the ground, paralyzed from the waist down.

Yet, this wasn't enough for Miyuki. She screamed inhumanly once again as the warrior struggled to army crawl away, and she stomped on his tailbone before she speared him on his own weapon. He howled, and then wailed when she yanked it out once more only to drive it through his anus. In revulsion, the Earthrealm warriors saw her slide it completely through his body until the spearhead broke through just beneath his ear. Of course, by then, he was dead.

"Miyuki, what have you done?" Shinji asked her, completely horrified.

"Not nearly enough, _Otousan_," she growled, her eyes as focused and intense as a tiger's on the hunt. With that, she bolted away from him, heading down the hill in spite of his commands to stop.

By then, An Zhi had sounded the call for retreat; the assassins' mission had failed and the chance of success at this point seemed unlikely. To kill Grandmaster Shinji, they'd needed the element of surprise on their side. So as the Lin Kuei squadron abandoned their individual battles, Miyuki killed every single assassin who crossed her path. Ruthlessly, manically, she froze them into ice statues or gutted them with kori knives, making a noise that sounded like the bastard child of a strangled cry and scream while the Tatsuyoshi ninjas watched in stunned silence. Either way, it made no difference to her. As far as she was concerned, she'd merely stepped on a couple of ants. Her real prey, she saw, was running towards the beach where the Lin Kuei had probably landed with silent boats.

The young Cryomancer ran faster than An Zhi, Sub-Zero noticed, probably because the man didn't realize he was being chased. Miyuki quickly caught up to him, her face a twisted conglomeration of fury and grief, but she said nothing as she threw a huge ice ball at him with all her strength. Her rage rendered her aim painfully inaccurate, and the glowing blue orb sailed harmlessly over his head, landing on the sand before him. A puddle of ice stretched across his path, its brilliant shine refracting the light from the fires onto the assassin's face.

"Stand and fight, coward!" she screamed in Cantonese, her fury now pouring from her eyes in uncontrollable tears. Kuai Liang cringed at her directive; she had no idea what she'd just done. However, he suspected that even if she did, she wouldn't have cared.

An Zhi, who'd already stopped running towards the Lin Kuei boats, gave her no warning before he whirled around and threw hundreds of razor sharp ice needles akin to a porcupine's quills at her. Miyuki hadn't expected this kind of retaliation, and many of them easily sliced open her ninja jacket's sleeves as well as her arms, if they didn't plunge into her chest and extremities altogether. She yelped in surprise and pain as the force knocked her to the ground. Her blood, black in the firelight, streamed down her body in thin rivulets.

An Zhi was immediately beside her. "You little bitch," he spat at her in English. "You think to use ice as a weapon against _me_?"

With that, he backhanded her, the force of the blow stealing her arms from beneath her. The moment her face landed in the sand, he kicked her beneath her armpit, knocking her onto her back as she cried out in pain. Kuai Liang tensed; he found he was rooting for the teenage girl, even though her chances of winning the fight were next to none. Miyuki had done what he and Bi-han never could: challenge An Zhi. But her courage did no good. The older Cryomancer continued to kick her in the ribs, refusing to stop even when she screamed and choked for air, crying hysterically. Finally, he stomped her in the belly and then spat on her.

"You're weak," he snarled. "You're just a pathetic little girl. Go back to your father and leave the fighting in the hands of the men where it belongs."

An Zhi started to walk away, but Miyuki, ever tenacious, refused to let him go. Though her face contorted in pain, she promptly swept his legs from beneath him and knocked him over. He toppled to the sand with a grunt, and then he growled deeply in his throat as he pushed himself to all fours and mule-kicked her in the face. Then, as the teenager spat out thick ropes of saliva and blood, he slowly got to his feet.

"I'm gonna kill you," she muttered, though her lips were so swollen that it muffled much of the venom in her words.

"How are gonna do that, little girl? The only thing you've succeeded in doing is bleed."

Now An Zhi thrust his hand into her hair, her tangled brown tresses long since unraveled. He paid no attention to her pained squeals as he yanked her head back and then punched her directly in the face. A sharp crack cut through the still night air as he broke her nose and blood gushed from it like a river. She whimpered as her eyes immediately turned black and swelled nearly shut, but he mercilessly hauled her to her feet by her hair, and then he punched her even more. Miyuki tried to block him, but she was too weakened from the fight to stop his assault.

Finally, though, she _did_ deflect a blow. It wasn't much, but it caught him off guard just long enough for her to form a large kori knife and jam it through his forearm between the two bones. At last, An Zhi let go of her as he stared stupidly at the weapon jutting from his body, but if he felt any pain, he hid it well. The Cryomancer Master glared at Miyuki with cool rage. Then the man slowly slid the knife from the wound and studied it in the firelight before he wiped his blood across her jacket. Without warning, he tossed her weapon to the side and then delivered a roundhouse kick to her leg just above her knee.

A terrible crunch enveloped the chaotic noise from the Tatsuyoshi village. Miyuki's expression contorted in agony before she screamed and collapsed into the sand. On the ground, she curled into the fetal position, bawling as she pawed at her leg, which was now bent at an acute concave angle at the knee, the toes on her foot pointing directly at her other one, the whole thing slumped on its side in an unnatural way.

"_Otousan_," she cried through her tears. She covered her face with her hands. "Help me."

"You think your _father_ can save you, you little whore?" An Zhi sneered. A large kori sword sprang from his palms. "You think you're even _worth_ saving? You're not. You're nothing but a worthless abortion that never came to fruition. I should've killed you when I had the chance. But _that's _not a mistake I'll make again."

With that, An Zhi started to drive it through her middle, but before he made contact with her body, a blow dart fletched with a red feather soared into his throat. He stopped his motion immediately, and turned towards the shooter. The Earthrealm warriors, along with the Cryomancer Master and his battered daughter, saw Shinji standing at the tree line where the beach began. His face was calm, but his eyes glittered with fury. No words passed between the two warriors, only profound hatred, but quickly the Lin Kuei assassin staggered away.

Now the scene shifted, and it was daylight, though the sky was overcast and heavy with gray sorrow. Tendrils of smoke wafted to Heaven as the survivors of the attack worked to clear debris and corpses from the dirt roads. Miyuki, with the help of a tree branch hastily made into a crutch, stood before the ruins of her family's house, staring at the smoldering timbers. Several Tatsuyoshi ninjas kept glancing at her, their eyes full of trepidation and nervousness, probably wondering if she was going to butcher them as well. Many whispered _majo _in her direction, but she pretended not to hear. Instead, she looked up at the sky, her face twisted in anguish.

Suddenly she screamed from the bottom of her lungs as tears streaked down her dirty face.

The scene shifted again, and now it was later in the day. Miyuki sat beneath her favorite cherry tree on the hill overlooking the half-burned village. She hysterically sobbed into her hands, her stringy hair shrouding her face. At her scalp, the roots had become stark white like snow.

Kuai Liang's heart lurched for his sister as he now watched Shinji slowly climb the hill, his own face contorted by grief. "My little snowflake, how did you get up here with just a crutch to help you?" the Grandmaster asked gently.

"I don't know," she hiccuped between sobs. He sat beside her.

"We're taking the wounded to the city soon," he told her. "You should start heading down the hill-"

"Why did you let that man go?" she interrupted him. "Why, _Otousan_?"

Shinji frowned and said nothing for the longest moment. Finally, he said, "I didn't have to chase after him, _Musume_. My dart was dipped in poison. If it didn't kill him, it'd make him long for death anyway."

"You call that justice?" she snapped as she looked at her father with cold, blue eyes.

The Grandmaster sighed. "And what would you have had me do, Miyuki?"

"Rip him apart with your bare hands," she snarled. Her face was red with rage. "Or let _me_ do it."

"_Musume_, hear me," Shinji began as he rested his hand on her good knee. "Someday, you will be a fine kunoichi warrior. But that man was one of the deadliest Lin Kuei assassins to ever have lived. You are no match for him, and I doubt you ever will be."

"Then _you _should have done it!" she snapped. When he didn't respond, she asked, "What makes him so deadly, _Otousan_? How can you be certain I'll never beat him?"

"I'm _not_ certain, my little snowflake. But he lacks something that you have, and that makes him a ruthless, indiscriminate killer."

"What is it?"

"He lacks a soul." Shinji looked at her pointedly and then caressed her bruised, battered face. "But you do, Miyuki. You're full of love and compassion. And that makes me proud of you." He paused. "But you killed men last night. That has a way of destroying a person's goodness, of destroying _them_. I _am_ reassured by the fact that you're crying and not keeping it in where I can't help you sort it out. But I-"

"I'm not crying because I killed those men," she interrupted him. She looked at him coldly. "I'm crying because I wish I had made them suffer more."

The Grandmaster's eyebrows furrowed in worry. "_Musume_-"

"An eye for an eye, _Otousan_," she hissed.

He sighed once more. "My sweet, little Miyuki, don't you know that an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind?"

The Cryomancer scowled. "That man who murdered my mother and my brother and sister…He has power over ice like me."

"Yes, he does," Shinji agreed.

"A long time ago, you told me my real family was evil. Is _he_ a part of my real family?"

The Grandmaster tensed, almost imperceptibly so. Kuai Liang barely caught it. Shinji looked her directly in the eyes. "No, _Musume_, he is not. It is just coincidence that he can control ice like you do."

"But, Shinji, his eyes…They were blue like mine, and I thought…" Miyuki trailed off, clearly afraid to say what was on her mind.

"What, my little snowflake? What did you think?" her adoptive father urged.

She swallowed hard and looked at his hand, which cupped hers on her lap. "I thought he looked like me. Well, what I could see of him that is."

Shinji inhaled deeply. "All the people who can do what you do have blue eyes, _Musume_. Again, any resemblance to him is purely a coincidence."

"It doesn't matter," she snarled. "I'm going to find a way to kill him. He took _everything_ from me. So I'm going to take everything from him. I'm going to destroy his clan, and I'm going to kill his family. His friends. _Everything_."

"Miyuki!" Shinji snapped. "You dishonor our family and the Tatsuyoshi when you talk that way! You would make your _Okaasan _cry were she here right now."

"But she's _not_ here," she bitterly argued. "And it's because that monster took her."

"Be quiet!" he barked. "Enough of this talk. Come. It is time to go to the hospital."

The scene shifted once more, returning the Earthrealm warriors back to the hill with Miyuki and Kiyoto. She sat beside him, her face a storm cloud of anger as he told his story. Hot tears streaked down her cheeks, and she trembled, trying to contain the rage threatening to explode inside her.

"Why are you telling me these things?" she demanded to know. She evidently didn't have the benefit of seeing the story come to life like the Earthrealm warriors did.

"Because, Miyuki, your _Otousan _lied to you," Kiyoto said. "That man who burned down your house and killed your family? That man was An Zhi. Your father."

Sub-Zero's younger sister looked like she'd been punched in the gut. "But he said it was a coincidence," she argued in blatant denial. "My…my father-"

"Was Lin Kuei," he finished for her. "Or did you already forget that little detail?"

"But…but…" she stammered, trying to find her words, the confusion conquering the anger. "But…why?" she managed to ask. "Why…"

"What do you mean, Sarah?"

Miyuki swallowed hard. "My father sold me because he didn't want me. I was no longer his problem. Why come back to kill my family after all that time?"

"He wasn't really there to kill your family," Kiyoto told her. "He was there to kill you. Everyone _else_ was there to attack the Tatsuyoshi."

"But why?" she asked again, sounding like a broken record. More tears streamed down his face. "I was just a baby. Why did he want me dead?"

"To punish your real mother. He was a firm believer in women knowing their place, and your mother defied him on more than one occasion, but especially the night when he told her he was taking your older brothers to the Lin Kuei with him. She physically tried to stop him. Her! And without any combat training at all. Poor, pitiful woman."

Miyuki, stunned, looked to the sea. "I don't understand."

"He wanted to teach her a lesson for defying him," Kiyoto told her. "An Zhi knew the best way to hurt a woman with children is to kill those children. However, since he needed the boys alive, you got picked by default. And it didn't hurt that he didn't want a daughter anyway. He loathed you from the time you were born."

Miyuki clamped her eyes shut and cried while Kuai Liang, who watched the scene unfold, inwardly yelled at Kiyoto to stop torturing his sister. She'd already suffered enough, but he was making it worse. But the mysterious man continued.

"It was not Shinji's fault that your mother, brother, and sister died in that fire, Sarah. It was _his_. Had he left you to your fate with the vultures in that warehouse, your family would still be alive. He should've let you die. But instead, he brought you home. And in so doing, he put them in danger."

Finally, Miyuki stopped crying. She slowly opened her eyes and looked at the man. "You're right. It _is _his fault."

"So what are you going to do about it?" he asked, his eyes twinkling with cruel amusement.

"I'm going to have a talk with him," she growled. She got to her feet and slowly marched down the hill towards her village, her eyes black with darkness again. Behind her, unbeknownst to her retreating figure, Kiyoto stood as well, his body slowly morphing into another shape. In seconds, the Earthrealm warriors saw him become Quan Chi while Sareena stepped from behind the tree.

"She was much easier to convince than her brothers," the demoness remarked, her arms crossed, a vaguely unhappy expression on her face.

Quan Chi didn't seem to notice it. He chuckled. "Yes, my dear. Hell hath no fury like a girl with chronic daddy issues."

The scene shifted, and this time the Earthrealm warriors saw Miyuki, now dressed again in a ninja's black attire, rampaging through her village, killing everyone who crossed her path. Seemingly invincible with rage, completely unstoppable, she froze and butchered her own clan, the emotion in her eyes drifting further away with each kill until at last, they were cold and vacant. Only when Shinji shot her with a blow dart dipped in a sleeping draught did she stop her slaughter.

But she escaped and took her bewildered father prisoner, holding him in place against a wall with an arm across his throat. "Before I let you die," she sneered wickedly, "I want to have one last father-daughter chit-chat. You're going to tell me everything you know. I want you to-" she paused as she looked down at his stomach "-spill your guts."

"What do you want to know?" Shinji replied, slightly terrified.

"Tell me about my real family. Everything. _Now_."

The Grandmaster swallowed hard. "Why? What point is there? You obviously know who they are, though I don't know how you came by this information. I expressly forbade it."

"The villagers were right about me, weren't they?" she hissed. "I really _am _a witch. And my father's the Devil."

"No, _Musume_," he muttered sadly. "_I _am your father."

"Liar, liar, pants on fire," she sang before she formed a kori knife in her hand and thrust it through his abdomen. Slowly, Miyuki dragged it upwards, remorseless, ignoring his screams of pain as she killed him. "Oh wait," she said growled when his body slumped to the floor. "That was my _Okaasan _the night that you let her die." With that, she kicked his bloody corpse.

Now the Cryomancer dragged him outside, frightening the mob back as she showed them what she'd done. Then, after she killed her guard, she turned her focus on them, mowing them down, undefeated, as if she had help from a higher, albeit evil, power. Ice balls and kori daggers flew. Though he'd witnessed her bloodlust firsthand, somehow Sub-Zero couldn't believe that Frost had done such unspeakable things to her own people.

Finally, Miyuki's attention returned to Shinji's stiffening corpse. Now the Earthrealm warriors watched in disgust as she mutilated him, first splaying the skin on his chest open like she was dissecting a frog for science class, then making another deep cut on his throat. Afterwards, she reached through the incision, shoving her fist through his throat, and yanking his tongue backwards through the hole to give him what Sub-Zero knew was a Colombian necktie. Lastly, she glanced up at a hastily erected set of gallows probably meant for her.

She giggled wickedly. "Time to hang you out to dry, Old Man," she mumbled as she retrieved a rope and a pair of iron shackles. She cuffed his hands together then quickly threaded the rope through them before she climbed with it to the top of the gallows and dropped down skillfully. The force violently yanked Shinji up, his bones loudly popping as they dislocated or broke altogether. Finally, Miyuki tied the rope off and the scene vanished altogether, returning the Earthrealm warriors to Outworld.

Now Himavat stood before Frost and Sub-Zero as the Lin Kuei Grandmaster tried to wrap his head around his sister's wickedness. She looked at the Elder God in fear, undoubtedly expecting fire and brimstone for her deeds. But even still, she defiantly said, "So what, your idea of punishing me is making me relive my past?"

"Miyuki," Kuai Liang whispered sadly, resting his forehead tiredly on her shoulder as he loosened his grip on her. An Zhi and Quan Chi had gotten to her as well.

"You succeeded in killing your father like you wanted," Himavat replied pointedly.

"He _wasn't_ my father!" she cried.

"You ungrateful brat," Noob hissed. "Yes, he was."

"However, you didn't succeed in beating him," the Elder God continued as if he hadn't even heard any of the other comments made. "Shinji let you kill him. He refused to harm you. To him, protecting you from harm was his most important duty."

Frost paused for a long moment. "And I…killed him." Her voice broke again. "I really killed him, didn't I?"

"You killed a member of your family in cold blood," Himavat told her. "Your punishment is…non-negotiable."

"Himavat, you can't let that happen," Sub-Zero argued. "Quan Chi played her, just like he played Bi-han and Scorpion."

"I told you there was nothing I could do," the Elder God responded.

The older Cryomancer winced as he clutched his sister tightly as her head sank down in defeat. "He loved you, Frost," Kuai Liang found himself saying. "He loved you. Why on Earth would you kill him like that?"

At the question, she dissolved into hysterical tears once more, and she sank against her brother's shoulder, clutching his arm like a life preserver. "I don't know," she whined. "It doesn't matter though," she sniffed. "I'm going to Hell."

Now he rocked her for a moment. "I'll figure something out," he half-heartedly promised her, not really certain he could.

"Do you think our father's in Hell?" she mumbled, but she didn't wait for her brother to answer before she said, "I think I'll find him and ask him why." Now Frost pulled away from Sub-Zero and looked him in the eyes. "Why, Kuai Liang? What did I do that was so wrong that he wanted me gone? Why didn't he love me?"

The Grandmaster frowned as he cupped her cheek. "You didn't do anything wrong, Miyuki," he answered. "Be _grateful_ he didn't want you in his life. Be _grateful _you had Shinji instead. God, I would've given anything to have a father like yours." He wiped away her tears with his thumb.

"But I killed him," her voice broke and she covered her face with her hands.

Kuai Liang immediately grabbed them and pulled them away. "This is what's gonna happen, Miyuki," he began. "You're gonna help us stop Quan Chi. He's the reason you killed Shinji. And then we're gonna go home to Arctika and get you some help, okay? Let me help you. Let me take care of you, Sister," he finished as he tenderly held her cheek once more.

Frost sucked down an anguished gulp of air as fresh tears spilled down her cheeks. "Oh, Kuai Liang, that sounds so nice. I would love to live there in the Lin Kuei temple with you, and Anya, and Tomas, maybe even my real mother too, maybe feeling like I had a family again. The first time in a long time." She closed her eyes and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Then come on-" he began as he hugged her to him, but her body tensed.

She hissed, "But life isn't a fairy tale, Brother, and there'll never be a happy ending for me. Our father saw to it personally." Before Sub-Zero could react, she had pushed him away and punched him in the jaw with a furious left hook that sent him sprawling to his knees and only semi-conscious. Then, before the others could stop her, she leapt onto him with the grace of a panther and ripped the Dragon Medallion from his tunic.

"Frost, no!" Himavat cried just as Noob sent Saibot to steal it from her once more. But just as the demonic shadow reached her, the Medallion began to glow angry blue, and it cast him aside like a rag doll.

Kuai Liang, who had recovered but was slow to get to his feet, saw its strange behavior and panicked. "Frost, drop it now!" he yelled at her, more worried than angry.

"I…I can't," she struggled to reply, her face astonished by the power probing her and measuring her worth. She strained to let go, but somehow, it possessed a magnetism that kept her hands firmly clamped around it. When her older brother saw her fight to drop it but fail, he raced towards her.

"Kuai Liang, stop!" he heard Anya screech. He glanced at her and saw her start to run towards _him_, but Tomas promptly grabbed her by the waist and pulled her back. "Let me go!" she yelled at him, but he refused so the Cryomancer nodded his thanks to his friend before he focused on his sister again and grabbed her arm. Immediately, a shock akin to a lightning bolt exploded from the Dragon Medallion in a blue arc that electrocuted him, sending him flying into his brother.

"What's it doing?" Noob yelled, barely moved by the force and already in a fighting stance, prepared to do battle.

Sub-Zero scarcely heard him as he rolled on the ground in pain, the lightning bugs scampering through his blood stream on tiny electrical currents, gnawing at his insides as his lungs gasped for air. "I don't know," he finally croaked. "I can't touch her. It obviously won't let anyone help her."

"Stupid girl," the other muttered.

Both brothers watched as Frost strained to scream in obvious pain – her face had twisted into knots – but couldn't. Meanwhile, the blue light from the Medallion became an aura that enveloped her, and somehow it seemed to constrict her rapidly crumpling body.

"Himavat, do something!" Kuai Liang yelled at the Elder God.

"I can't," he said calmly, profound sadness in his eyes.

Now an ethereal blue dragon with scales shaded purple burst from the jewel face and rose into the sky on its wings. It twisted around in the air above them, then roared, thrust its front claws forward, and raced towards a paralyzed Frost with its fangs bared. All she could do was watch in terror as it barreled straight at her. When it reached her, it snatched her into its vaporous jaws, threw her body high into the sky, and caught her once more before it swallowed her whole. The Earthrealm warriors saw the female Cryomancer slide into its narrow belly like a pig eaten by a python, and when she reached her final destination, the blue aura compressed her completely until she glowed blue as well. The light from the event rivaled that of the sun, forcing everyone to shield their eyes lest they go blind. Finally, the dragon trumpeted again, and that was followed by the sound of bones snapping loudly. At last, Frost screamed just as the light receded into her in an instant, yanking the ghostly beast with it in a furious blur, and she fell to the ground. Blood oozed from her mouth, nose, eyes, and ears. The Dragon Medallion rolled silently from her hand.


	39. A Fistfight and a Beer

For a long moment, everyone stared in shock at Frost's unmoving body. Then Anya's impulse to administer first aid kicked in, so she elbowed Tomas in the gut, escaped, and dashed to the woman's side. She felt pulled in two different directions about treating her enemy; on the one hand, Frost had deserved to die, and she'd hated herself for begging Kuai Liang not to choke her to death. But on the other, the young woman had been a victim of Quan Chi's evil the same as her brothers, and that wasn't even counting what An Zhi had done to her. When she'd watched Miyuki's story unravel, she'd felt an overwhelming urge to forgive the Cryomancer for everything. So Anya's pity for her won out.

The nurse gripped Frost's limp skull in her hands, probing with her fingers to find a pulse beneath her jaw, and gasped as they felt icy cold but soft skin. "Oh, my God," she muttered to herself.

"What?" Kuai Liang asked as he joined her. His face was blank, eerily so.

Anya swallowed. "I don't know…it's like she's been dead several days. Like she's been frozen. But her skin still has give to it. It's not hard. I've never seen anything like it. I've never even _heard _of anything like it."

He said nothing as she pressed her fingers into Frost's carotid artery in a futile effort to find her pulse, and when that didn't work, they drifted to her wrist. Not surprisingly, she felt no familiar throbbing. Finally, she sighed and shook her head.

"She's dead," she declared, though she knew she was stating the obvious.

"Isn't there anything you can do?" Kuai Liang asked flatly.

Anya frowned. She didn't mention it – there was no place for whining right now – but there were two problems with his request. She could try to heal Frost with her newfound powers, but it seemed that every time she used them, she grew tired nearly to the point of lethargy. Furthermore, her own medical emergency caused by Quan Chi's magic had left her feeling weak and dizzy. After she came to in Smoke's arms, the only reason she'd mustered enough energy to attack Frost during her and Kuai Liang's fight was because the woman was about to kill him, and the sight had filled her with enough rage and adrenaline to fight through the weakness. But now, the barbaric, animal-like spirit that gave her strength had receded, and she felt sick all over again. Anya would try for him though.

So she thread her fingers on one hand through the back of the fingers on the other, rest her open palm on Frost's chest in the appropriate spot, and started compressions. Pushing in the necessary two inches required more energy than Anya had to spare, so her eyesight quickly darkened as vertigo swirled through her head. Even still, she refused to stop. When she'd mentally counted out thirty compressions, she promptly tilted Frost's head back, pinched her nostrils shut, and blew all the air in her lungs into her twice. Now Anya began the cycle again, and didn't even blink when she heard bones snap beneath her hands.

"You're breaking her ribs," Tomas said pointedly.

"Probably," she mumbled absently. "Her xyphoid process probably just separated too." The others let her work in silence after that, and after three tries, in spite of her determination to save the female Cryomancer, she had no strength left to continue. She looked at Kuai Liang sadly and wiped the sweat from her forehead and cheeks with her filthy arm.

"It's no use," she panted as she wiped frustrated tears from her eyes.

"Can you heal her? With your powers, I mean?" Kuai Liang looked at her. There was no real emotion in his voice, and it bothered her deeply. She'd never seen him like this, even when she first met him and the wound from losing Tomas to the Cyber Initiative was still fresh. She'd never seen him shut down before. It brought tears to her eyes.

Anya started to answer, but Himavat interrupted her. "She can't, my son. The Hydromancers' gifts do not come without a price. They expend a terrible amount of their own life energy to heal someone. She used much of hers healing you earlier. She's only grown weaker since then, as I'm sure you can see."

Now the Cryomancer scowled at her. "When exactly were you going to tell me that?" he demanded to know. _Now _there was an edge to his voice.

Anya shook her head anxiously. "I'm sorry. We didn't exactly have the time to talk about it."

Kuai Liang sighed angrily and glared at Himavat in frustration. "Then _you_ do something," he snapped. "Help her! Bring her back!"

"I can't," the Elder God replied.

"Can't, or _won't_?"

"Both," he said. "Frost had been warned about the Dragon Medallion, and yet she tried to take it anyway."

"But does she deserve death because she did something stupid?"

"Perhaps not. But that doesn't change the fact that it's cursed and I can't reverse what it's done to her without upsetting the balance. You all know it will indiscriminately destroy anyone who touches it without its permission. It's very…fussy."

Kuai Liang scowled even deeper now. "Quit talking about it like it's alive, Himavat," he barked. "It's _not _alive. Someone just booby-trapped it with a magic spell or something."

The Elder God chuckled bitterly at that. "Oh, my dear son. You're so wrong."

The Cryomancer leapt to his feet. "You know, I am sick and tired of the cryptic nonsense," he barked. "Save my sister!"

"No," he replied simply.

"Then why bother with the trip down memory lane, Himavat?" Tomas interjected. "We have two very naughty sorcerers to contend with, and not a lot of time to do that, yet you chose now to reveal these things about Frost to us? What the hell was that about if not to save her? You could've waited to punish her, you know. And if we were unsuccessful in stopping those two, she'd be punished soon enough anyway."

"I knew Kuai Liang would forgive her transgressions if he knew what she'd been through, and would therefore offer to help her overcome her demons. Your crew needs all the help it can get in this fight and I assumed she'd take his help and genuinely fight beside him. But I assumed wrong."

Anya sighed. "We _do _need all the help we can get. I'll try to heal her," she announced as she rested her hand on Frost's forehead.

"Annalise, no!" the Elder God barked, but she ignored him. So he looked at Sub-Zero and said, "If she tries to heal your sister, she'll die. And there will be no guarantee that her sacrifice will even work. Frost is dead."

That was all he had to say. Immediately, Kuai Liang was beside her and had yanked her hand from Frost's forehead. "No, Anya. Don't."

"But-"

"No buts this time," he said quietly, closing his eyes. "She made her fate. But I'm not gonna let her make yours too." Now he looked at her. "It's okay. You've done all you could, more than I had any right to expect from you. You don't have to do anything else."

Anya felt her lip quiver and she swallowed the painful knot forming in her throat. "I'm so sorry." With that, she leaned on his shoulder. "I tried so hard."

"I know you did," he said gently as he rubbed her back. "But now, we've got to go stop Quan Chi and Shang Tsung. We've got to save the people who still can be saved."

"You mean you're not gonna tell me to run?" she asked with a sniff.

"It's not like you'd listen."

She snorted. "Okay," she replied. "I'm with you. I don't know how much help I'll be, but I'll do my best."

He squeezed her. "I know."

"This is all very touching," Noob started, "but I'm afraid you're not going anywhere, Brother." The wraith lifted his gaze to the temple doors where Mileena and Sektor had suddenly appeared. "You're going to meet your fate sooner than you think."

Without warning, the red cyber-ninja fired a missile at them from the open port on his chest, and it crashed into the ground before them in a deafening, fiery explosion. Anya felt the heat of the blast sear her dirty face as the shockwave carried her into the air and dropped her several feet away. She fell onto her back and gasped for air when the wind was knocked from her lungs, then she clawed at her chest in a futile attempt to pull in oxygen that didn't want to come. A shrill whine filled her ears. Finally able to breathe again, she groaned as she made herself roll onto her tummy.

Now Anya saw Noob throw up his arm towards Kuai Liang, who was writhing on his belly in pain from the blast. From her vantage point, he seemed to be relatively unscathed by it, just stunned more than anything. But it proved to be the ideal time for his undead brother to attack; just as soon as Noob held up his arm, a black shadow – Saibot, she presumed – bolted from his body and attacked the Cryomancer. It grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and lifted him to his feet before it twisted his arms behind him to hold him in place. Then the wraith started wailing on him like a punching bag.

Though dizzy, weak, and now nursing a blinding headache, Anya started to get to her feet to help Sub-Zero, not really noticing how Smoke and Sektor began to fight behind her. Suddenly, she heard an eerie cackle reminiscent of Frost's, and for a fleeting moment she thought the lunatic Cryomancer was back from the dead. Then she realized the laughter belonged to Mileena. The nurse whipped her head around to face the unholy Tarkatan-Edenian hybrid, Shang Tsung's Bride of Frankenstein creation that Kuai Liang had told her about. Though her mouth was covered by a mask, her demonic yellow eyes smiled insanely at her, crinkling in twisted mirth at the corners.

"My, my, my," she said in a high-pitched, slightly gravelly tone. "What are we going to do about you, my pretty girl? You're quite the escape artist."

Anya scrambled to her feet and backed away slowly. The pink-clad woman giggled, roared, and then promptly charged towards her. The nurse now began to run backwards, but immediately slipped and fell into the mud puddle where she and Frost had fought only ten minutes prior. Mileena, who could not stop her furious momentum but tried anyway, comically slid through the muck, dirtying up her legs and hooker boots before careening into Noob's side.

The wraith, who'd been engrossed in beating his brother to a pulp, stumbled clumsily. His concentration broke, allowing Saibot to dissolve into nothingness, giving Sub-Zero the opportunity to jump-kick his brother with both feet before springing backwards onto his hands like a gymnast and then righting himself once more. While both enemies were mildly distracted, Anya watched him form an ice knife in each hand. He threw one at each of them, crouching into his usual fighting stance as one plunged into Noob's chest and the other into Mileena's leg. Mileena screeched loudly as she staggered to the side, but his brother, seemingly unfazed by the event, looked at the weapon jutting from his ribs. He laughed an ungodly laugh in an abundance of voices.

"You're pathetic," he jeered at Kuai Liang as he slowly yanked the knife out. Black blood stained it. While the Cryomancer narrowed his eyes and stood his ground, the demon marched towards him.

Anya, however, wasn't about to let him attack him. "Get away from him!" she yelled as she threw up her palm and forced out a jet of water. The fluid materialized and left her body with more force than she expected, and it wildly sprayed towards the warriors. Unfortunately, it didn't flow where she intended. Rather than hit Noob, it hit Sub-Zero, and with a startled cry, he flew backwards.

At first, Anya, Noob, and Mileena watched him fall in stunned silence. But then, the latter two started laughing hysterically while she gasped and rushed to Kuai Liang's aid. "I'm so sorry!" she cried as she joined him. "I was aiming for your brother."

"Your aim was off," he said drily as she gave him her hands to lift him up. Her jet of water, however, had mixed fresh mud beneath them, and her foot slipped. She collapsed into him, and they both fell once more. "You're killing me, Anya," he grunted a moment later as he pushed her off him.

By this point, the other two had almost reached them. When only a few feet away, Mileena promptly pulled her body into a ball like a roly-poly's and launched herself like a cannonball at Anya and Sub-Zero. The Cryomancer, who saw the incoming attack, immediately jumped on the nurse to knock her into the mud once more. This time, however, he pushed her through the surface. Startled and frightened, Anya watched her head sink below the ground as the familiar crackling and popping of ice breaking filled her ears. White layers of ice enveloped them as Kuai Liang hugged her to him, each one strangely glowing from somewhere deep within and racing by her face so fast they were almost too blurry to see. Split seconds dragged out into hours, she thought, and dizzyingly so, and just as Anya was about to scream, they both reemerged several yards from Noob.

They reappeared just in time to see Mileena roll directly into the wraith, either unable to stop or not seeing that she was headed towards the wrong person. Either way, the Earthrealm warriors would take it. She crashed into her teammate so hard that he flew backwards about five feet. Meanwhile, Sub-Zero scrambled to his feet and yanked Anya with him.

"Are you okay?" he asked, now covered in mud and soaking wet as well.

"Yeah," she nodded. "I-"

Suddenly, a ghostly purple ball of energy careened into him and he cried out in mild pain as that same purple aura engulfed his body. He immediately collapsed to the ground, unable to move.

"Kuai Liang!" she cried as she knelt beside him.

"Here, pretty-pretty," Mileena said as she and Noob stalked towards the pair. "It's time to go back to Quan Chi and Shang Tsung."

"Noob!" the Cryomancer yelled, though he couldn't look his brother in the eye because he lay on his side. "You betrayed me!"

"I did no such thing," the other scoffed. "I never once told you I was going to fight alongside you. I never once told you I had left Quan Chi's service."

As the two moved ever closer, Anya glanced around in panic. She had to do something before they killed him and kidnapped her, but what? Immediately her eyes found Smoke, who was thoroughly preoccupied with his fight with Sektor; the Czech man had just fired a missile at his former boss from a port in his mechanized palm. The smoking rocket soared violently into the evil cyber-ninja, carrying his body into one of the oddly shaped rock pillars that somehow defied gravity. As rocks and debris rained on his red helmet, Anya raced to her guardian.

Tomas' back was turned to her, but that didn't stop her from grabbing his automated arm and yanking him around. "Hey!" he yelped in surprise, at first poising to hit her with his free hand but stopping when he saw it was her.

"Shoot them," she said breathlessly as she looked at Noob and Mileena, pointing his arm towards them.

"Alright, alright, keep your panties on."

Immediately, he fired twin missiles at Noob and Mileena. Mileena fell to the side as dust exploded through the air, but Smoke scored a direct hit on the wraith. Noob sailed through the air, his body cracking into a boulder like an egg, then slumped to the ground, stunned unconscious. By then, Sektor had recovered and teleported back to his opponent with a loud pop, reappearing beneath him and uppercutting him as his rocket-propelled boots carried him into the sky. Anya was on her own once more.

Mileena rolled to her knees, glared, and growled. Then she vanished. Before Anya had time to panic, she reappeared in the air above her, kicking her in the face as she returned to the ground. The Hydromancer heard a loud crack in her jaw as hot fire flooded her cheek, and she toppled to the dirt. The warrior woman was immediately on top of her, pummeling her in the face as she shrieked and laughed in time to her punches.

Blue and black stars burst through Anya's vision. It was hard to think over every loud _whap_ that rang through her ears, but after several hard, painful blows, she managed to lift her hands to block her face at the same time she sprayed her enemy in the face with a highly-pressurized jet of water. The blast stunned Mileena, causing her to recoil after it knocked her pink mask off. Anya yelped in horror as she scrambled away; through her swollen eyelids, she saw a hideous mouth full of long, razor-sharp fangs rotted yellow and dripping with drool. They seemed too big for the fighter's facial structure, yanking her lips into a wicked, albeit involuntary, smile. It was no wonder she wore the mask.

"Wow, the outside is just as repulsive as the inside," the nurse couldn't resist saying.

Mileena screeched. Then she charged after Anya once more. This time, she wrapped her arms around the nurse's waist and lifted her into the air, carrying her with unexpected strength and ferocity towards the temple. The Hydromancer, thinking she was taking her back to Quan Chi, squealed and beat her on the back with her balled-up fists, but Mileena ignored her. A moment later, she threw her into the temple wall. Anya's head hit the stone with a painful crack that stunned her while the warrior clutched her throat and pinned her into place.

"Now," she began as she pulled a sai from her boot, "it's time to go back to your cage like a good little pretty. But I'm sure Quan Chi and Shang Tsung wouldn't mind if I made you a little bit more like me first."

With that, Mileena aimed her sai at Anya's face and poised to stab her with it. The nurse flinched and yelped. But just as the tip of the weapon almost penetrated her cheek, the warrior gasped, stopped, and dropped it. Her yellow eyes bulged in surprise as her hideous mouth contorted in pain. And then, the Hydromancer heard cracking and snapping, the sound of lake ice breaking into smaller floes in spring. The Outworld fighter released her grip on her prisoner's throat, and then stumbled backwards a few steps. Now Mileena's skin started to take on a blue hue as frosty white ice gradually spread over her body. It consumed her and solidified her, freezing her into a statue, permanently fixing an ugly smile onto her face.

In mild shock herself, Anya panted as she looked at the ice sculpture and then glanced up. Kuai Liang was there, evidently recovered from Noob's paralyzing ball of energy, poised in a familiar fighting stance. She half-shuddered, half-laughed when she saw his stern, focused expression, and her heart pounded in her chest. The nurse exhaled shakily.

"Perfect timing," she breathed with a nervous smile. Her hands trembled now.

"Now _that _is how you aim," he replied.

His sarcasm ticked her off and she rolled her eyes. "Okay, well, next time I'll just _let _him go at you without helping you."

"You promise?" he muttered as he turned his attention to Noob.

Anya scowled like a pouty little kid and then made her hand talk at him. "Mememememe," she said snottily so that he couldn't hear.

Sub-Zero met Noob, who had finally recovered from Smoke's missile, on the other side of Frost's body. No words were exchanged, or if they were, Anya didn't hear them. Instead, the two brothers immediately started trading punches and kicks in such blindingly fast fury that she could scarcely see either one of them. Kuai Liang never failed to impress her when he fought. The nurse knew it was what he'd been born and bred for, and his whole life had been dedicated to mastering the martial arts, but even still his speed and ability seemed unreal, like he'd just sprung out of a Jet Li movie. Suddenly she felt turned on by him, and blushed in embarrassment at her inappropriately-timed animal instincts.

To her left, Tomas was in a similar boat with Sektor. She almost thought both were faster than Kuai Liang, if such a thing were possible. Perhaps it was their cybernetic enhancements giving them added speed and agility, and especially her guardian. But whereas the Cryomancer expertly lobbed ice balls and other icy weapons at Noob, the cyber-ninja had a small arsenal of powerful smoke bombs, flash-bang grenades, and missiles jammed into his automated arm. It was the one part on him that she couldn't heal; she knew that not long before she met Kuai Liang, he'd fought with his drone of a friend and cut his arm off in the process. Anya felt thankful that her guardian had gotten his soul back, not only for _his _sake, but for Sub-Zero's as well.

Speaking of her love, to her right he finally got one good punch in and knocked his older, undead brother to the ground. Noob groaned slightly and started to get up, but before he could, the Cryomancer had punched him again and laid him flat on his back. Wasting no time, however, Noob spun on his tailbone and wrapped his rigidly straightened legs around his opponent's, almost looking like a pair of scissors. He jerked them hard, forcing Kuai Liang to uncontrollably fall towards a portal he just created in the ground below him. His younger brother fell through with a startled shout, reappearing a split second later through a portal fifteen feet above, toppling to the dirt like a rock. Anya heard him groan in pain after he landed, and she started to go to him to help, but he saw her and waved her off.

She wasn't going to obey, but by then Noob was on his feet and had already sent Saibot after him. So she stayed put, though her gut gnawed at her to help, especially when Saibot lifted him off the ground and tossed him like a toy to Noob. Instead of catching him, though, the demon wraith promptly punched him in the face, hitting him so hard that his trajectory and momentum completely reversed.

Anya yelped. "Oh, my God!" she cried as she covered her sore mouth with her hands.

Fresh blood spurted from Kuai Liang's broken nose when he landed on his back, but he only groaned and held his face for a second before he swept his legs around quickly and took his brother to the ground as well. Saibot disappeared as Noob's concentration broke, and it gave the Grandmaster enough time to do something that he called a kip-up. It was one of the more athletic things he did in a fight or training, and for some reason Anya loved watching him do them, probably because she didn't think she'd ever have strong enough stomach muscles to flip onto her feet like that. Clearly, though, Kuai Liang thought nothing of it because the moment he was on his feet, he kicked his brother in the face. But the wraith seemed unfazed by the blow. He immediately rolled backwards and onto his feet before he attacked Sub-Zero once more. Again, the two started punching and kicking at each other violently until at last, the Cryomancer threw himself into the ground, teleporting through ice to emerge on the other side of his brother, kicking him in the butt as hard as he could.

By this point, Smoke joined the fight, having just chased off Sektor. From the corner of her eye, Anya had watched him cowardly teleport away, abandoning his teammate to escape. It was no wonder Kuai Liang hated him. But on the plus side, that gave the Cryomancer an advantage over Noob since now it was two to one. Tomas promptly teleported to them. When he reappeared, he threw a smoke bomb at the wraith's feet and launched him high into the air. While he hung at the apex, suspended there for a long second, the cyber-ninja leapt to him, caught him in his arms, and body-slammed him to the ground like some kind of a professional wrestler.

"Holy crap," she muttered to herself as Noob scrambled to his feet and the three warriors traded blows like some kind of Bruce Lee version of the Three Stooges.

"That _was_ pretty impressive," Himavat said as he appeared beside her.

"Why won't you help Kuai Liang and Tomas?" she demanded to know.

"It's not that I won't," he said. "It's that I can't. I can only interfere so much, so I leave things like this to them. Not only that, but Kuai Liang and Bi-han are both my grandsons. I really shouldn't take sides in their disagreement. They'll be fine."

"You sure about that?" she replied pointedly.

The Elder God chuckled. "Don't worry, my dear," he told her. "They're all three brothers, and this is how brothers work things out. They'll pound each other to a pulp and then go have a beer."

"Yeah, because _pigs _just learned how to fly."

"Except the sorcerers are about to win, so it's kind of a bad time to have a beer," he continued as if he hadn't heard her. "Well, and the fact that Bi-han _is _technically dead. I'm not sure beer would do it for him. He probably should have something stronger. Maybe saki."

Anya shook her head tiredly as the Elder God rambled on. "This is one jacked-up family."

Himavat stopped talking and then clapped her on the back. "And just think, you're now a part of it!" He smiled broadly at her before he returned his attention to the fight and cheered when Sub-Zero spun as he leapt into the air, and then kicked Noob in the face. "What a shot!" the Elder God cried.

Anya watched as Smoke now gripped the wraith with both hands at his shoulders, flung himself backwards, and threw him towards Kuai Liang. The Cryomancer, in turn, borrowing a move from Noob and Saibot, dropped his shoulder down as his feet sprayed out a jet of ice that propelled him towards his brother's flying body. He careened into the wraith with the same force that Noob had used against him earlier, and with the same result. The demon fell backwards, but didn't crash into the ground; a black portal twisting into cloudy purple arms appeared behind him and swallowed him whole. His wicked chuckled echoed around them but quickly faded.

Anya looked around uncertainly, not confident he was gone. "Where did he go?" she asked nervously. She wasn't alone in her actions. Sub-Zero and Smoke did the same thing.

"He's gone, my dear," Himavat announced. "Undoubtedly to report to his master."

"I _knew _it was too good to be true," Kuai Liang muttered, his battered face an angry storm cloud. "I knew he didn't want to help me."

"Now that's not true," the Elder God argued. "Bi-han's fighting a battle against _his _inner demon the same as you."

"I shouldn't have trusted him."

"Maybe so, but you don't have time for could've, should've, and would've."

"He's right," Tomas agreed. "We have to regroup with the others. We're late as it is. They'll be wondering where we are, and will probably send someone to look for us."

"Yeah, I know," the Cryomancer muttered. Now he looked at Frost's corpse. "What am I gonna do with her? I can't leave her here. She deserves to be put to rest."

"You can't worry about her now, my _pr̆ítel_," he said. "If we survive the coming battle, we can take her home with us and give her a proper burial."

"You're right. I was just thinking aloud."

"You've got a lot on your mind," Anya told him gently. "It's understandable." She stepped to him and rubbed his arm to comfort him.

"Well, all that's gonna have to wait," he said almost coldly. She sensed through her fingertips an overwhelming sense of failure. As far as he was concerned, Frost's death was _his _fault. And now, he worried if he was going to fail her, his teammates, and all of Earthrealm as well. Anya started to tell him otherwise, but he shrugged her off and said, "It's time to go to work."

"Then I'll leave you to it," Himavat said. "Just remember, my children, that even if I can't intervene in what's about to happen, I'm never as far away as you think." And with that, he was gone, leaving in a crashing sound akin to the ocean breaking on a rocky shoreline.


	40. A Plan of Attack and the Last Goodbye

**Author's Note: Once more, this was supposed to be one chapter, but it wound up being too long (over 30 pages on Word) so I broke it into two smaller chapters. It's the beginning of the end. Dun dun dun. **

**Thanks to my pal, Haven Rose, for helping me think of funny things for Kabal to say. And thanks to my friend, Obelisk of Light, for her always thoughtful reviews of my chapter updates. Go check out both their stories when you get a minute, and show them some love! :)  
**

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"Haokah, Quan Chi and Shang Tsung have entered the main temple," Nightwolf was reporting to Raiden as Kuai Liang, Anya, and Tomas trekked into the rendezvous point, a small cave with a clear view of the valley floor. About fifty feet above it and only about twenty yards from the largest of the temples, Quan Chi and Shang Tsung's forces would not notice the Earthrealm warriors using it to spy. Or if they did, they didn't care. Their confidence in victory was great.

And it should've been. As the three hurriedly crept towards their destination, they saw legions of skeleton soldiers arranged into perfectly symmetrical divisions of heavy infantry and cavalry, though the horses those figures sat upon were not horses at all, but some kind of an alien cousin, as if horses had been fused with dragons. Their eyes glowed an eerie green.

"_Hovno_," Tomas had muttered under his breath just as Anya said, "God help us."

Kuai Liang said nothing in response, but when he saw the Dragon King's army fully resurrected, he knew that now, their only hope rested in stopping Quan Chi's spell. Otherwise he, his fellow Earthrealm warriors, and the Edenian resistance would all die like the three-hundred Spartan warriors at the Battle of Thermopylae. To some, dying in such a blaze of glory would be a great thing, the stuff of songs hundreds of years in the future. And maybe it was. But to Sub-Zero, who had lived to see both his brother and sister damned to Hell, there was nothing glorious about death. It was a cold, pitiless thing, and nothing more. He preferred to live.

So when he, Anya, and Tomas made it safely to the cave, and he heard their teammates arguing with Raiden about battle plans that sounded suspiciously stupid, he said, "I'd like to hear an idea that _isn't _going to get us all killed today." He knew the chances of that were unlikely.

"Hey, look guys," Kabal teased. "The Ice Man cometh!"

Tomas chuckled heartily at that. "Ice Man…Good one."

Kuai Liang glared at them. "You're both idiots."

His best friend clapped him on the back. "Would you lighten up already? You're wound up tighter than an eight day clock. I can't _believe_ I had a heart attack before you did."

"Oh, he's like this with you too, huh?" Kabal asked the cyber-ninja. "And here I was, thinking I was special. Turns out I was just sloppy seconds. You think you know a guy. Tsk tsk tsk."

An ornery grin spread across Smoke's lips, but then he twisted his face in a mock pout as he crossed his arms. "Hey, I thought _I _was your only BFF. But I get a bit distracted for _one_ minute, and you're already running around with a new friend. Did I mean _anything _to you at all, Kuai Liang?"

He gazed at the Cryomancer for a long moment, and didn't even blink when he received an angry scowl in return. Instead, he puckered his lips together and smacked them, sending him a fake kiss. Kabal and the others started laughing, but Sub-Zero felt his ears turn red and his face grow hot. He was almost certain he looked like a tomato with hair.

"Does this really look like the time to be clowning around?" he snapped.

"Actually, we're about to die," Kabal said grimly. "I can't think of a better time."

Tomas grinned. "I like him!" he cried. "And he's right. If we're going to die, then I want to die with a smile on my face."

"So, did you guys get lost or something?" Johnny interjected. "You're really late."

"Why, you in a hurry or something?" Anya snapped.

The actor flashed a cocky smile. "Not me, hot stuff," he said flirtatiously. "I like to take my time." He clicked his tongue as he made twin guns with his hands, pointing them at her.

As she rolled her eyes, Kuai Liang gripped him by the collar of his t-shirt and threw him into one of the natural rock pillars holding up the cave. "You're about to become a strange smell in the back of this cave," he growled as he pinned him to the column with his forearm.

"Geez, calm down," the other said a bit fearfully. "I didn't mean with _her_. You really _do _need to lighten up. Take up yoga or something, bro."

Sub-Zero snarled and released the man before Anya said, "Congratulations, Johnny, your Cal Ripken-like streak for saying the absolute stupidest thing at the very worst time is alive and well."

"God, you people are so damn touchy," he muttered as he slunk to the corner, taking up a spot behind Jax. On the opposite wall, standing with Stryker and his twin sister, Khadija, Kabal was laughing softly to himself.

Sub-Zero glared at him but said nothing, and then returned his attention to Raiden and Nightwolf. "I see we were too late to stop Quan Chi and Shang Tsung from awakening the army."

The thunder god nodded. "We obviously saved all of their sacrifices from captivity and death, but not before Quan Chi used their elemental energy to cast his spell."

"Elemental energy?" Anya repeated. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"It is a long story," Jade said to her. "One that will have to wait. But now that we are all together again, we must decide on a course of action."

"She's right," Jax agreed.

"Hey, you people are military," Johnny said, looking at Jax and Sonya as well as the Lin Kuei fighters. "You should know what to do. You're experts at battle strategies, right?"

Sub-Zero and Smoke exchanged a look. "Well," the cyber-ninja began, "I can't speak for anyone else, but it's _my_ expert opinion that we're fucked." The others nodded their heads in agreement.

"Smoke's determination, though crude, is accurate," Cyrax told them. "Based on the number of us versus the estimated number of them, coupled with the fact that they purportedly will resurrect themselves if slain in battle, I calculate the odds of our success in defeating the Dragon King's army to be 1,562,000,000 to one."

"Well, you're just a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day, aren't you, Mustard-Man?" the actor asked.

"Our odds of surviving this battle are only slightly better," he added.

"What if we fall back?" Stryker asked. "Find a better place to fight them? Maybe like a jungle or something where we can use guerilla tactics rather than fight them face to face?"

Sub-Zero shook his head. "Our numbers are still too small. To do what you're talking about, we'd still need thousands of warriors on our side, and even then that would be a pretty big if."

"Alright, so what do _you_ suggest, Frosty?" Kabal asked.

The Cryomancer exhaled and looked at Raiden. "If we challenge Quan Chi and Shang Tsung in Mortal Kombat and win, what will happen to the army?"

"Victory will not destroy the army, if that's what you're suggesting," the thunder god told him. "But the victor _would_ assume control of them."

"That would give us enough time to find a way to undo Quan Chi's spell, right?"

"Yes," he answered, "provided the victor wasn't corrupted by the power he or she wielded."

"So you're thinking to challenge those two in Mortal Kombat?" Smoke asked him skeptically. "I don't know, Kuai Liang. That doesn't sound like a great idea either."

"We can't beat this army in a physical contest," he explained. "I think that's pretty obvious by this point. I don't even think we could bloody their nose. So we have to beat the sorcerers. It's our only shot."

"But you're forgetting one thing," Sonya began. "Liu Kang was the only one of us who's ever beaten Shang Tsung. He's the only man in what, 500 years-" she glanced at Raiden for affirmation, and he nodded in agreement so she continued "-in 500 years to have beaten him."

"And your point is?"

"My point is that it might have escaped your notice, but Liu Kang's dead. Beating Shang Tsung in Mortal Kombat without him seems pretty unlikely on its own, but you're talking about taking on Shang Tsung _and _Quan Chi."

"I beat Quan Chi once," Sub-Zero said dismissively.

"No, _Scorpion_ beat him," she argued. "And I don't see everyone's favorite demon lurking around, do you?"

"Well, he is," he replied, bristling with annoyance.

"This isn't a good plan," she declared. "I agree with Smoke."

"Regardless, it's a plan," he snapped. "And it's far better than attacking an immortal army numbering in the hundreds of thousands."

"I agree with Sub-Zero," Raiden announced. "Quan Chi and Shang Tsung, although immensely powerful and virtually immortal, can still be beaten. That's more than I can say for the Dragon King's army. So unless any of you have a better suggestion, we will challenge them to Mortal Kombat."

Suddenly, the Earthrealm warriors heard the call of several horns blare loudly throughout the valley, followed by a crash and a flash of fire and smoke. The ground swayed as fine silt sifted onto their heads from the ceiling, and rocks slid down the hill towards the bottom. Khadija and Sherman both screamed in surprise as they stumbled to their knees, and Kuai Liang almost shouted at them to be quiet lest the army or one of Outworld's deadliest fighters heard them, but he saw Anya rush to them to calm them, and so he bit his tongue. Instead, he and the others looked onto the Dragon King's army.

The steep hillside on the opposite end of the valley was crawling with dark shapes, some short and broad, others tall and lanky, some more humanoid than alien, but many strange and slightly grotesque to behold. Hundreds poured down the slope, clutching shields and weapons as they charged towards the newly resurrected army, with hundreds more coming behind them. The war trumpets sounded again as they surged forward, fiery arrows and Greek fire heralding their assault on the Dragon King's army.

Their efforts looked almost as useful as a drop of water attacking a mountain. Fearlessly, the skeleton army hurled themselves upon the resistance like a striking cobra, and the fierce battle cries of both forces broke out. More arrows thick as a rainstorm came whistling over them, clinking on shields and glancing off bones when they found their unholy targets. The Dragon King's army screamed, waved their spears and swords, and then fired a cloud of arrows at anyone dressed in black. The cavalry galloped towards them, screaming inhuman war cries as their bizarre steeds crushed the insurgents beneath their hooves, and they swung their swords around to slice off their enemies' heads. The rebels wavered, broke, and retreated before they charged again; in this fashion, they charged and retreated several times like the ocean tides, and each time they found themselves driven higher up the slope.

"This is a bloodbath," Sub-Zero mumbled as the Earthrealm warriors watched the newly resurrected warriors ruthlessly slaughter their opponents. As rumored, whenever one of the rebels got a lucky shot and managed to kill one of the soldiers, the skeleton fizzled to dust but then rose into the air on a tiny tornado that deposited it, fully regenerated, into battle once again.

"What the hell were they thinking?" Smoke wondered out loud. "They should've known not to attack directly."

"It doesn't matter now," Cyrax said. "Their foolishness has given us the perfect diversion."

"Indeed," the Cryomancer agreed. "It's time to go. Come on." He motioned to the other warriors to head to the large temple reminiscent of El Castillo at Chichen Itza, and they obediently walked past him single file after Kabal and Nightwolf said quick goodbyes to their loved ones. Anya started to follow the warriors as well, but Kuai Liang abruptly stopped her. "Stay here," he commanded her.

"You said you weren't going to tell me to run," she replied in annoyance.

"You're not running. You're staying put," he countered. "There's a difference."

"Not really," she protested.

"I can't be worrying about you while I'm trying to kill those two," he began as he rested his palm on her shoulder. "I need to know that you'll be safe. And you'll be safe here with Khadija and Sherman."

Her lavender eyes hardened. "For one, you _need _my help. I can't do much, but I can do a little. It's better than nothing. And for two, Earthrealm is my home too, and I have just as much right to defend it as you do. You don't get to decide what I am and am not going to do, Kuai Liang. That is _not _how this works."

Sub-Zero sighed. "It is this time, Anya," he responded sadly.

With that, he channeled his powers into his hand and into her shoulder. As realization struck her, she looked at him in betrayed shock, her hands quickly finding his arm and trying to pull it away. But her eyes rolled into the back of her head almost immediately and she fainted like he expected. He hadn't wanted to use his powers against her, but she'd given him no choice. So he caught her, lifted her into both arms, carried her to the rear of the cave where Khadija and Sherman now huddled, and set her on the ground beside them.

"What did you do to her?" Khadija wondered as she looked from her to him and back again. Her expression was slightly fearful.

"Just trying to keep her from getting killed," he said and then paused for a long moment, looking at her wistfully, brushing her muddy hair from her face. He just wanted to take her home from this place. He just wanted to find the claddagh ring he threw across their bedroom and give it to her. But evidently, Fate had something else in mind for him, and if there was a chance, no matter how small, that _she _could survive this apocalypse, he owed it to her to give it to her. Kuai Liang just hoped she'd forgive him. He pulled her hand to his mouth and kissed it, wincing because he didn't really want to leave her. Finally, he looked at the other two. "When she wakes up, she's going to be mad," he told them.

"No kidding," Sherman replied.

"I don't care what she says, I don't care what she does, do _not _let her come after me," he commanded them. "Now listen to me, the both of you. If we fail to stop Quan Chi and Shang Tsung, it's gonna end fast, and it's gonna end bloody. So if that happens, you need to run as fast as you can away from the army. Try to hide in holes and caves. Don't trust anyone. Stay away from them if you can help it. Do you understand me?"

"Yeah," the boy said at the same time Khadija said, "Yes."

"Good." He paused. "And if I don't make it, and there's a good chance I won't, will you tell her something for me?" Sherman nodded solemnly so he continued. "Tell her that I love her and that I'm sorry for leaving her like this. Will you do that?"

"Yeah, we will," Nightwolf's son said, his dark eyes teary now.

"Thank you." He looked at her one final time. "Goodbye, Anya. I love you."


	41. The Earthrealm Warriors' Final Battle

**Author's Note: I want to thank my friend, Firebending Master, for helping me choreograph this very large fight scene. Writing them is tough enough, but on this scale, it's probably the most challenging thing I've done as a writer to date. Thanks, FM. :)**

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Several minutes later, having left Anya, Khadija, and Sherman in the relative safety of the cave, Sub-Zero and the others crept stealthily into the main temple at the center of the valley floor. The smoke from the battlefield and the raging cacophony of noise had provided them all with ample cover, and it had been fairly easy to reach their destination without much trouble. A few errant soldiers _had_ attacked them, but Kuai Liang simply froze them in place, unwilling to expend any of his or his teammates' precious energy on a fistfight with a handful of enemy skeletons.

As the battle raged on at the base of the temple and hillside, the Earthrealm warriors charged up the abundance of large steps to reach the top. Sub-Zero led them. The building on the platform was relatively plain, save for a doorway leading inside. Two European-style dragons made the foundation of the front wall, and their giant wings curved upwards and met in the middle to form the arch. Unsure of what he'd find inside, and specifically what booby-traps he'd encounter, the Cryomancer crept into the short passage slowly, taking great pains to stick to the shadows and to move like one as well.

The building consisted of only one large room with ornate bas relief dragons decorating the walls. Columns trimmed with gold leaf and more dragons propped up the ceiling. But the architecture of the temple platform did not interest Sub-Zero; his eyes were focused instead on the evil green soulnado twisting into the sky from the center of the temple, and on the two sorcerers chanting some sort of spell before it, a small contingent of skeleton soldiers and their respective realms' Champions their dispassionate audience.

"They're using the souls to strengthen the army," a soft, gruff voice explained. Sub-Zero looked to his right and saw Scorpion crouched against the opposite wall in the passageway. He'd appeared in complete silence, and that unnerved the Grandmaster a bit. The Shirai Ryu ninja didn't look at him, but instead stared intently at Quan Chi.

"He's right," Raiden announced as he stepped between them.

"Can we stop them?" the Cryomancer whispered back.

"It seems unlikely," the demon told him. "But it will be an honorable death."

"Yeah, well, I'm not ready to pick out my plot just yet," he replied. "Come on."

The three warriors emerged from the tunnel with the others on their heels. "Shang Tsung! Quan Chi!" the thunder god roared, his sky blue eyes crackling with branched bolts of lightning. "End this madness now and I will spare your lives."

Both sorcerers as well as their minions began to laugh heartily at his words. "You weak, pathetic fool!" Shang Tsung yelled in response. "Your souls will soon belong to the Deadly Alliance."

"Deadly Alliance?" Smoke repeated, raising an eyebrow. "That stupid name's the _best_ they could come up with?"

Sub-Zero started to tell him to shut his mouth, but before he could form the words, Scorpion had already charged towards the Necromancer with an enraged cry. He shook his head tiredly and then followed suit, leaving Quan Chi to the wraith; though he had a bone to pick with the sorcerer, it was nowhere nearly as big as the one Scorpion had with him. If the Necromancer had butchered _his _wife and son like that, to say nothing of his clan, he'd expect first dibs as well. So Kuai Liang attacked Shang Tsung instead, bolting towards him like an oncoming train.

Shang Tsung, an elderly Chinese man who reminded him much of Grandmaster Oniro, narrowed his beady, black eyes and patiently waited for the Cryomancer to reach him before he first threw a left hook and then a right. Though his movements were exceptionally fast and fluid, Sub-Zero blocked both, countered with a right hook, and then fired an ice ball into the sorcerer's middle. Naturally, victory didn't come _that _easily for the Lin Kuei Grandmaster; though Shang Tsung froze into a statue for a moment, his figure quickly trembled before reddish-orange energy exploded within, carrying the ice on a violent shockwave in all directions. Sub-Zero wasted no time in shielding his face and then snap-kicking him in the chest when he emerged from his icy tomb unharmed, knocking him backwards.

The Cryomancer started to go after him, but suddenly, a strange sensation like he was being pulled by an invisible rubber band wrapped itself around his waist. He only had a split second to think on it, however, before it snapped him backwards and suspended him upright in the air beside Ermac. Pleased that his servant had caught such a pesky adversary, Shang Tsung laughed wickedly. Then he ran towards him, leapt into the air, and kicked him in the face before he returned to the ground. For a moment, Kuai Liang saw blue and white stars.

And then Sonya charged unnoticed towards Ermac, growling in determination as she ran. She leapt into the air, gliding several feet before she kicked him in the back. He stumbled forward as Sub-Zero fell to the ground, but she didn't notice her teammate. Instead, she spun and leapt into the air once more, this time performing a reverse roundhouse kick to Ermac's face. Finally, she jumped and slid through the free space between them before her combat boot connected with his black-bandaged chest.

Now Jax stormed into the fight, curling his massive bionic arms towards Ermac's face, but the entity blocked all of his shots. Undeterred, the Army Ranger snap-kicked him in the belly, but the other countered with a downward double punch which also struck the abdomen. Jax grunted loudly and in pain as he stumbled backwards, but Ermac relentlessly stretched out his arm towards the fighter, seductively twisted his fingers through the air, and prompted a dark green ether to slither around his victim's paralyzed body. Then, emotionlessly, he jerked his arm to the side, sending the soldier flying to the opposite side of the chamber. When Sonya rushed Ermac to stop him and to help Jax, the warrior calmly lifted her as well and chucked her in the other direction.

"Enough!" a female voice yelled at him. He looked, and Princess Kitana stood near him in a fighting stance, her dark eyes hard, her face stern. "Fight _me_, Ermac, if you dare."

"We are many. You are one," he coldly replied in a multitude of voices.

"One is all it will take," she replied.

Kitana then attacked him with a high roundhouse kick that he easily blocked before he threw a right hook towards her face. She quickly ducked and then sprang backwards into a reverse cartwheel kick that caught him beneath the chin. Ermac fell to the ground hard, seemingly unconscious.

The Edenian Princess smiled faintly, satisfied with her handiwork. Suddenly, a vicious animal leapt onto her back and sank his fangs into her throat. She screamed as Baraka tore her flesh apart, the sharp, hot pain exploding through her gushing neck muscles as she strained to escape. Then, without warning, he stabbed her with his razor-sharp, retractable arm bone. Like a knife cutting through soft butter, it plunged effortlessly through her back, emerging through her well-muscled abdomen. Kitana choked on her own tongue as she frantically gulped down air to fan the inferno now raging inside her belly.

"I'm going to gnaw the flesh from your bones," he growled hungrily in her ear, and she whimpered and groaned in pain.

But Jade had no intention of letting Baraka do any such thing. To save her mistress, she side-kicked him in the back before she gracefully whirled around and hit his skull with her staff. Immediately, he retracted his arm blade from Kitana's belly and turned his attention to the green-clad woman gazing at him angrily. As if using a large paddle to row a boat, Jade brought her staff down once more, still aiming for his thick head, but this time, Baraka snap-kicked her in the groin before his arm blades shot out and cut her staff in two. He drew back his arm as if to backhand her with the bony blade, but Kitana, though weakened from blood loss and pain, mustered the strength to yank one of her blue fans from her boot and throw it at him. As she intended, it sawed into his shoulder, and he howled like a wild beast as Tarkatan blood spilled onto the temple floor.

As all of this was happening, Sub-Zero was still in the midst of his own battle. When Shang Tsung realized that the Cryomancer could not be easily beaten, he barked orders at some of the Dragon King's newly resurrected soldiers. Immediately, one soldier armed with a kwan dao flipped unnaturally high through the air towards Kuai Liang, but he patiently waited until the last possible second to side-step from the creature's attack. A moment before the skeleton landed on the floor, he drove his fist into its jaw so hard that the momentum carried it into the soulnado where it whirled around, helplessly caught by the untold numbers of souls within.

Then another soldier, also armed with a kwan dao, charged towards Sub-Zero with its weapon parallel to the floor. Impulsively, he ran towards the creature and leapt onto the pole, dashing across it quickly and as gracefully as a tight-rope walker. When he reached the end, he jumped into a backward cartwheel and kicked the skeleton in the chin, knocking its skull completely off its spinal column.

Kuai Liang didn't wait for the skeleton to reanimate itself. He was already on a collision course with Shang Tsung, and just before he reached the sorcerer, he jumped into the air and side-kicked him with both feet. His blow landed a direct hit to the face, and while his opponent stumbled, he fell onto both hands and sprang backwards, landing upright. They met in the middle and then traded punches until at last, Shang Tsung blocked the Cryomancer's right punch, threw a left hook of his own, and knocked him backwards. The sorcerer then used his magic to shoot three flaming skulls in rapid succession at his enemy. Sub-Zero whirled out of the way just in time, and then watched as the ethereal skulls blew out the wall on the opposite side of the chamber.

He risked a glance at his friends to see how they fared against the Outworld and Netherrealm forces, and he saw Scorpion wreathed in ghastly green energy. A few yards away stood Quan Chi with his arms outstretched but pulling back gracefully, almost as if he were dancing. Like a puppet on a string, the demon wraith seemed compel to obey the sorcerer's movements, and the Cryomancer quickly decided his ally was the victim of a hypnotic spell. Immediately, Kuai Liang threw his arm around, releasing a whole battery of tiny ice daggers at Quan Chi, inwardly celebrating when they struck him fast and true. The ether entombing Scorpion vanished as his master's concentration broke, so he roared as he threw his kunai blade at his opponent.

"Get over here!" he yelled as he reeled in his catch like a fish on a line. When he'd reeled in Quan Chi all the way, he punched him in the jaw. But when he started to hit him again, the Necromancer laughed and then summoned a bright light from the ground to blind him and throw him backwards.

Meanwhile, Cyrax had shot his mechanical net towards Noob, but the wraith, who was much faster since his death, anticipated the attack and sent Saibot to counter. The tarry shadow bolted to the yellow cyber-ninja and slammed into him with his shoulder, destroying his aim, forcing him to fire the net at his companion, Nightwolf. The Apache warrior fell to the ground in a tangled heap, but Cyrax did not take his sight off his enemy. While his teammate worked to cut himself free, the cyber-ninja calmly threw a napalm bomb at his undead opponent. Once more, Noob predicted the action and immediately teleported behind him, striking him with a ghostly purple ball of paralyzing energy. As expected, Cyrax toppled to the ground, unable to move.

Nightwolf had escaped the net by this time, however, and while Noob was distracted by the cyber-ninja, he chanted a few Apache words asking the spirits to help his arrow fly true. Then, he pulled back his ethereal bow and fired at the wraith. The arrow plunged directly into Noob's heart, but his victory was short-lived because his enemy sent Saibot after him. The shadow wrapped his arms around him in an inescapable bear hug, then yanked him towards a portal below them that violently carried him through a pitch-black maze of twists and turns, a carnival ride from hell, and eventually deposited him at least ten feet off the ground. With a startled yell, Nightwolf crashed into the floor, feeling his arm snap beneath him as he landed on it the wrong way. Jagged lightning coursed into his shoulder, and he struggled to breathe because the wind had been knocked out of him. Noob used this moment of weakness to his advantage, angrily plucking the arrow from his chest before poising to stomp on the Apache's skull, extinguishing his life once and for all.

But Smoke, who fought Sareena nearby, saw what had happened to Nightwolf and fiercely threw a smoke bomb at his former friend's feet. For the second time that day, his weapon launched Noob high into the air. He only wished he could abandon his own fight long enough to catch the self-important prick mid-air before slamming his body to the earth. Oh well. He'd just have to make due with that.

"How quickly you change sides," the demoness said, breaking through his thoughts, as she swung her dragon tooth sword at Smoke's head.

Tomas ducked just as he fired his kunai blade into her middle. A feeling of déjà vu overtook him. "I was just about to say that about you, my dear," he replied. Quickly, he stood upright so that he lifted her into the air on his shoulder, then gracefully arched backwards as he body-slammed her onto the ground.

Sareena grunted and groaned when she hit the floor, but as soon as he turned around to attack her once more, she lifted both of her boots into his chin, knocking him backwards as her momentum carried her in a large circle onto her knees. Crouching to the ground, she smirked as Tomas rubbed his throbbing jaw.

"You're kind of cute when you're wounded," she teased.

"She-devil!" he muttered. "Flattery will get you nowhere with me."

"Then what about brute force?" she asked as she produced her dragon tooth sword once again, this time chopping into his cybernetic arm. Though the armor shielded him from amputation, he felt many of his processors and mechanisms crush under the force, and electricity from the circuitry bit into his skin until he howled in pain.

Smoke's cry got Sub-Zero's attention, and the moment he glanced in his friend's direction was the moment Shang Tsung morphed into the exact likeness of the professional scoundrel, Kano. As Kano, he jumped into the air and pulled his body into a tight ball, propelling himself into the Cryomancer's middle, knocking him several feet backwards and eventually to the ground. Then he reverted to his normal self and leapt onto him like a kid on a trampoline. Kuai Liang's breath fled him as he struggled not to vomit, though his old rib injuries protested the action, and his abdominal organs did too. Now it was _his _turn to cry out in pain, so immense was it, and he scarcely noticed when the sorcerer hopped off, aimed a glowing green palm at his heart, and pulled.

Well, at least it _felt _like being pulled. And then, in the corner of his eye, he saw a blindingly fast blur dash towards them. Before Shang Tsung recognized the threat, Kabal had grabbed him by the back of his ornate silk robe and threw him to the side. Shang Tsung flew into a nearby pillar as one of the Dragon King's soldiers dashed to him with his sword poised to strike. With a slightly cocky laugh, the man did the same thing to it. The skeleton crashed into a wall and shattered into pieces before it reanimated and was deposited back in line with the others.

But now, Shang Tsung had morphed into Scorpion and ran at Kabal, throwing a right and then left hook. Kabal blocked both, but the sorcerer, with flames engulfing his boots, jumped into a reverse cartwheel kick, propelled like a rocket by the fire. The Earthrealm warrior staggered to the side, his facemask cracked and his oxygen hissing out in a small cloud of white vapor.

Shang Tsung, still in Scorpion's form, flipped high through the air and landed before a newly recovered Sub-Zero, and he wasted no time delivering a front snap-kick at the Cryomancer's groin. The Lin Kuei Grandmaster blocked the shot before his opponent aimed a right straight punch and then a left hook at his head. He deflected those attacks as well, finally answering the assault with a front snap-kick of his own to the sorcerer's chest. Scorpion staggered backwards, and he called to the Dragon King's soldiers for help once again.

Yet another skeleton armed with a kwan dao attacked Sub-Zero, but this time he side-stepped out of the way of the thrust and watched it start to glide by harmlessly. But he grabbed it, yanked it from the soldier's hands, and twirled his entire body around. When he'd come full circle, he arched the blow downward so that the bladed end struck it halfway down its back, snapping its spine completely in half. Then Kuai Liang threw the weapon to the side, gripped the soldier by the base of its skull, and yanked hard. It detached from the rest of the body so that its head and half its spinal column easily broke free of the rest of its body, and then he used his grotesque trophy to strike across Shang Tsung's enraged face as he ran towards his enemy.

Shang Tsung, still in disguise as Scorpion, shrieked as blood gushed from his nose, but he stayed in the fight, trading punches with his opponent once again. Soon, Sub-Zero managed to leap into the air and jump kick the sorcerer in the face, and when he landed, he stepped into a sidekick that knocked his enemy back. But the sorcerer, not to be outdone, threw Scorpion's kunai spear at him, laughing wickedly when the blade plunged into his armpit. He yanked the Cryomancer to him and then punched him to the ground, breaking him free of the weapon. While he was on the ground, trying to ignore the blood gushing from his jaw and spilling over his lips, Shang Tsung peeled off his yellow cowl to reveal a skull whose eyes were full of hellish flames. And then he opened his toothy mouth and breathed fire at the Grandmaster. Sub-Zero quickly backflipped out of the way, and when the sorcerer saw he'd failed to roast him alive, he reverted back to his usual form.

Now the Cryomancer was pissed. Shang Tsung leapt into the air to do a spinning reverse roundhouse kick twice, but missed both times. His opponent merely stepped back so that he was out of range. But then it was _his _turn to attack. First he punched the sorcerer in the jaw, prompting him to morph into Sonya. Then, as his enemy spun around helplessly, he threw a left hook. The blow forced him to become Sektor. That _really_ ticked Sub-Zero off – if there was one person in the universe who he truly hated, the red cyber-ninja was it – so he hit Shang Tsung directly in the chest plate armor with a backwards hammer fist. And then the sorcerer became Shao Kahn, the Emperor now dead. After what he'd done to Anya during the invasion, Kuai Liang had dreamed often of making him pay for it. He started with a fierce right hook that unfortunately made Shang Tsung revert to normal. Now he felt robbed of his chance to get even with Kahn, so he jumped into a powerful flying side kick that sent the sorcerer crashing through one of the pillars.

As Shang Tsung lay on the floor, semi-conscious, Sub-Zero heard a beastly and triumphant roar echo through the chamber. He saw Goro standing with all four hands high in the air, waiting for someone worthy to fight, and evidently Stryker and Johnny hadn't been up to it because the Shokan General was still standing whereas they were a genuine mess. Their faces were a topographical map of bruises and goose eggs.

So Goro stampeded towards Princess Kitana, who had the good sense to cartwheel out of the way. Sonya, however, foolishly charged towards him, but he stepped into a spinning back fist and knocked her at least ten feet backwards. She was already unconscious when she hit the ground.

Now Goro charged after Johnny. He took a move from Kitana's playbook and rolled to the side to get out of his way. But then he also borrowed a move from Sonya's, and with the same result. He got up to attack, but the Shokan General backhanded him across the cheek, shattering his eye orbit, and lifting his body into the air. He landed about ten feet away too, right next to a profusely bleeding Sonya. He groaned as his eye swelled shut immediately, the bone beneath it screaming curses at him and at the monster that just broke his face.

Finally Stryker attacked Goro with his police baton, and even managed to hit the creature several times in the belly. But the Shokan was unfazed and unimpressed. He impatiently grabbed the cop's waist with his lower set of hands, ignoring his terrified cries, then used his upper set of hands to brutally slap him back and forth between right and left. But soon, he tired of that game and gripped the man's head in his palm, then squeezed until even Sub-Zero heard the crunch on the other side of the room. It was like someone had stepped on a gigantic cockroach with their shoe. The Cryomancer winced in disgust as Goro now slammed Stryker on the ground, then twirled his body around until he hurled him through the empty air.

The cop's body rolled to a stop near Kuai Liang's feet. Blood streamed from spots in his skull, his ears, his eyes, his nose, and his mouth, reminding him a lot of Frost's appearance when she died. But he didn't need Anya here to reassure him that Stryker was, in fact, dead. Though his open eyes looked towards his teammate for help, for some reassurance that everything would be okay, there was no light in them. They were as empty and as eerie as a porcelain doll's. Kurtis Stryker was dead.

"No!" Kabal screamed, though the word dragged on for what felt like centuries. Sub-Zero couldn't blame him. He felt similarly when _his _partner, Smoke, had been blown half to hell by one of Cyrax's napalm bombs, and then stolen by the Lin Kuei to become a part of the Cyber Initiative. But at least in that scenario, his best friend had still been alive, and in a way, it might've been easier if he'd been gone altogether. But now, looking at his cop friend's corpse, unable to pry his eyes away, the Cryomancer wasn't so sure. He felt sickened by his loss.

Kabal raced to challenge Goro to a fight, and Sub-Zero moved to stop him, but a ghastly cackle chilled his blood and stopped him in his tracks. "It can't be," he muttered to himself as he looked to where Shang Tsung had been laying semi-conscious on the floor. The sorcerer was gone. In his place was a woman with her back to him, but garbed in the uniform of a Lin Kuei assassin. She slowly turned around with an evil chuckle, and his suspicions were confirmed. It was Frost.

"Hello, Brother," she greeted in a cruel, mocking tone. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

Sub-Zero shook his head furiously. It was Shang Tsung. The sorcerer was messing with him. "It's a trick," he said, though he felt uncertain inside. "You're not her. You're not my sister."

"That is a horrible thing to say to me after everything I've gone through," she criticized. "You're a _mean_ big brother!"

With that, she sprayed him with a barrage of ice daggers, catching him unaware, laughing maniacally as they plunged into him at various non-critical spots on his body. Then, wasting no time, she got a running start before she leapt into the air and kicked him in the chest. He fell to the ground as she acrobatically propelled herself from his body, flipped high above him, and then landed on top of him, straddling him tightly. Immediately, she started punching him over and over again in the face.

"How can you say I'm not your sister when you know no one wanted me?" she growled, her words broken up by animalistic snarls and the dull thud of fist meeting cheek. "I thought you wanted to help me. I thought you were going to save me! But you let me die, Kuai Liang. You let me die!"

"Shang Tsung!" he yelled, half for anger at this display, half for the guilt the sorcerer suddenly made him feel.

"I – am – _not _– Shang – Tsung!" she roared, each word shouted as she gripped his tunic and slammed his head into the floor. Finally, he blocked an incoming punch, gripped her arm, and threw her over his head. They then kipped-up at the same time, and now circled each other like predators in the wild.

Suddenly, Frost stopped moving and burst into tears. "I don't understand, Kuai Liang!" she wailed. "I loved you so much." She looked at him through big crocodile tears. "Don't you know how much I looked up to you?" she asked him in a small voice.

And now, in spite of himself, he was sucked in. He forgot that Frost was really Shang Tsung in disguise, and he relaxed his body. "Miyuki…I'm…so sorry for everything."

"Why did you let me die, Brother? Why didn't you protect me?"

"I…I tried, but you wouldn't listen! I told you the Dragon Medallion was dangerous."

"Don't blame me, it's not my fault!" she yelped. "You failed me. You should've saved me, but you didn't. So if you can't save me fromthe Dragon King's stupid little Medallion, how do you expect to save Anya from the Dragon King's _army_?"

He cocked his head to the side. "What?"

"She came within an inch of sexual slavery because of you, and I _died_ because of you, so if you can't save us, the people you care most about, then how are you going to save her from Quan Chi and Shang Tsung? How are you gonna save anyone?"

"Miyuki, stop! I did everything I could to save you _and _her. Now I know I'm probably going to die, but I've got to try. I'm gonna try my hardest."

"And you're gonna fail. They're gonna find her, you know? Her, and Khadija, and Sherman? They already know about the cave, and they're gonna find them. And they're gonna kill them. And it'll be your fault, Brother!"

With that, she dropped her shoulder and then slid into him on a sheet of ice, knocking him down. Stunned, conflicted about fighting with his sister, Sub-Zero hesitated for a second. His hiccup proved to be a mistake. Frost promptly stomped him in the kidney, flooding his body with such blinding pain that his vision split into two blurry images, and he almost blacked out entirely. He moaned as he rolled onto his side, struggling to stay conscious, gripping his side and pressing his icy power into his skin, hoping it alleviated any internal injuries he might've sustained. Above him, Frost laughed cruelly.

She lifted her foot again to stomp him another time, but this time the Cryomancer didn't hesitate. He immediately hooked his leg around hers and swept her onto her back. Frost yelped as she fell, and before she even landed, Kuai Liang was on his knees, his fist drawn back to punch her just as soon as she hit the ground. But the woman who fell before him was not his sister; it was Anya.

The Lin Kuei Grandmaster had started throwing his punch so quickly that the only thing he could do at that point was to alter its course. With a startled cry, his fist met the floor, cracking the stone by her head with his knuckles. Anya wasn't as merciful, however. She glanced at his fist quickly and then head-butted him in the nose. More stars filled his vision and he fell over, his already wounded nose now gushing blood. He was certain it was broken, and when he dared to feel the damage, he sensed that the edge of the bone ripped a large gash through the cartilage, forming a near-horizontal gash across his nostrils. It stung and burned, and he tried to freeze the wound to dull the blinding pain there as well, stop the bleeding, and alleviate the instant swelling.

But now Anya, having scrambled to her feet, buried her delicate fingers deep in Kuai Liang's thick hair, and then she slammed his bloody face into the ground, worsening the damage. He grunted every time he heard a loud thump, his voice gurgling over the blood filling his mouth. He spat it out, feeling tired, feeling weak, nearly to the point of resignation. Finally she stopped and then kicked him as hard as she could in his rib cage where he'd suffered a flail chest. Now, as it was then, he heard a terrible cracking and felt his ribs give way once more.

"Anya," he gasped. "My ribs. I think you broke my ribs again." He struggled to breathe, feeling disoriented. He'd long since forgotten about Shang Tsung. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because I gave up _everything _for you," she snarled. "I gave up my job, my friends, my family, my _life_ just to help you find your way. That's how much I loved you. And it meant _nothing _to you!" She kicked him again, this time in the same kidney Frost just kicked him in.

"That's not true," he choked, trying to crawl away.

"You let that _bitch_ into our home, put her ahead of me, and she almost _killed _me!" she screeched. She kicked him again, and he yelped in agony. "And then you let Rain get me so he could put his hands all over me all the time. Is that how you show your love for me, Kuai Liang? By letting another man have his way with me?"

"I didn't want-"

She kicked him again, silencing him. "But why should I expect anything more from a man who calls me a bitch and who would use his powers on me to assault me into submission?" she hissed. "How stupid was I to love you?"

At that, she formed a water whip with her powers that slithered around Sub-Zero's throat and clamped around him tightly. Then she jerked her arm back and viciously laughed as it tossed him into a pillar before it pinned him into place. It choked out what little air he was already getting, and he felt himself start to fall unconscious as it squeezed his trachea shut. Her lavender eyes, almost black with cruelty, focused on him as she smirked and stalked towards his squirming form.

"You filthy Cryomancer," she growled. "How dare you think you were good enough for a Hydromancer? You're just a mongrel dog trying to run with a purebred. On what planet would we _ever_ have worked out?" Now she backhanded him and let him fall to the floor in a heap.

_This isn't Anya! _a voice deep inside screamed at him. It sounded suspiciously like Himavat's. _Teleport! Teleport now!_ Sub-Zero didn't have to be told twice. He closed his eyes and relaxed, willing his body backwards through that strange passage of ice and snow. A split second later, he reappeared behind Anya, instantly putting her in a chokehold.

She merely laughed at that, then held his arms, dropped to her knees, and flipped him over her shoulder. He fell onto his back, but as he scrambled to get up, she promptly sprayed him with a high-pressure jet of water not unlike that from a fire hose. It lifted him high into the air and threw him into yet another pillar. Kuai Liang coughed and sputtered, still struggling to breathe as he watched Anya turn away, only to turn back once more.

She was no longer Anya. She was no longer female. The man that now stood before him was more of a ghost than even Frost had been. Yet there he was, larger than life, his piercing blue eyes cold and ruthless, his hair stark white. He wore his familiar blue tunic and dark blue silk robe that just barely scraped the floor; it wasn't the uniform of a Grandmaster, but it was the uniform of a Master, the cruelest Master, in the Lin Kuei. When Sub-Zero saw him, he inexplicably felt five years old again, and he trembled. It was An Zhi.

"Father," he stammered as he held his rib cage. "It can't be. You're dead. I watched Oniro kill you."

"Get off the floor, you little girl, and fight like a man," the other hissed as he stalked towards him like a predator on the hunt. "You're embarrassing me and dishonoring our family."

Fearing his father's wrath, he promptly threw an ice ball at him. The older Cryomancer anticipated the attack and flipped into the air to avoid it. As he came down, he formed a large kori sword that was thicker and heavier than anything Kuai Liang had ever produced and aimed it for his chest. His son, however, faster now than he was when the other was alive, rolled to the side until he was on his face and army-crawling away. He didn't roll fast enough, however, because An Zhi still drove the sword through the fleshy part of his thigh.

Sub-Zero howled loudly as he clawed and pounded the floor in anguish. The man sneered and then twisted the sword in the wound, prompting his son to scream even louder. "That's right," he jeered coldly, "scream like the little girl that you are. Did you _ever_ pay attention to me, Kuai Liang? _Pain is the mark of a weak mind_."

"Father, please," he whimpered like a child. "I'll do better," he babbled.

Immediately, An Zhi stomped on his back. "Your brother was a rebellious little shit, but at least he was a good warrior. But you? I think it's high time to put you out of your misery, and out of mine."

He violently yanked the sword from Sub-Zero's thigh, and though his son now bled profusely from the wound, he quickly swung his legs around and swept him to the floor. Then the younger Cryomancer slowly climbed to his feet and limped to his head before he kicked him with the good leg. Though it was hard to support his body with his wounded one, he forced himself, and then followed the kick to the face with a stomp to the chest. An Zhi, however, rolled out of the way and immediately froze him to the floor with his powers.

"I can't _believe_ you're the new Grandmaster," he taunted as he stood up. "You're pathetic!" Now he started punching his son, and Sub-Zero blocked the best he could, but several shots broke through anyway.

As Kuai Liang tried to protect himself, he realized he was sick of this. His father was cruel, evil, and abusive, and he'd very nearly ruined his life. If it weren't for Sifu Halsey showing him what _true _honor was, if it weren't for Himavat, in disguise as Xiao-Ping, teaching him what a real father could be like, the youngest Cryomancer would've become just as twisted and evil as An Zhi. As it was, those good influences hadn't been enough to save Bi-han. Indeed, if it weren't for their father's malevolence, his brother and sister wouldn't be dead and damned to eternal torment right now. They might very well be happy, having spouses and children of their own right now.

A little voice inside of him, Himavat's again, reminded him that he was ten times the man his father had been. Sub-Zero fought for something greater than money, or power, or glory. And as a result, the warriors in the Lin Kuei did not fear him, they _respected _him, and he commanded more loyalty through that than his father had through violent coercion. His teammates, too, looked up to him, and cared about him, and wanted to help him. Kuai Liang had far more to be proud of than his father, and he didn't need to impress An Zhi anymore. He didn't need to be afraid. And the moment he realized that was the moment he remembered that the man was long dead and needed to stay in his grave forever.

"You may look like my father, Shang Tsung, but you're not him!" he yelled, his senses returning to him as he was filled with newfound strength. "An Zhi is dead!"

With that, Sub-Zero uppercut the sorcerer so hard that the man was propelled like a rocket into the air. That bought the Cryomancer enough time to form a kori sword heavy enough to break free of his icy shackles right before Shang Tsung, still borrowing An Zhi's likeness, charged towards him. Immediately, the Earthrealm warrior side-stepped and threw a rigid arm in front of his throat, catching him like a clothesline, and as the other choked and staggered, Kuai Liang ignored the pain in his ribs and legs and spun into a back kick. Finally, he started pounding the sorcerer in the face, not seeing Shang Tsung but seeing his father, putting every ounce of hatred he felt for the man into every punch. It felt good to see blood and teeth fly from the older man's face.

Shang Tsung only tolerated the assault for so long before he reverted to his normal form and shot a flaming skull into the Cryomancer's chest. As soon as he landed, Sub-Zero doubted he could get back up again. The magic from the sorcerer's trick surged through him, making every bone in his body feel like it was breaking at once. He groaned in anguish, now too tired and too wounded from everything to move, even when the sorcerer stood above him with a glowing green palm aimed at his chest once more.

"Your soul is _mine_," Shang Tsung declared coldly.

Something shifted inside of Sub-Zero then, as if his spirit were misaligned with his body. It occurred to him that Shang Tsung was stealing his soul, and the thing tenaciously grasped for him to save it. It was like something was being ripped from him, something special, and he didn't want to part with it. But the harder his heart fought to hold on, the more it slipped away. Kuai Liang reached for arms he only imagined were there, but to no avail. Shang Tsung kept pulling, stubbornly so, until the Cryomancer felt too weak to stop him.

And then there was a blue and white explosion of sparks above him that rained upon his body unexpectedly after a branched bolt of lightning struck the sorcerer directly in the chest. He screamed in pain as he flew across the room, landing on Quan Chi just as the Necromancer was about to snap Scorpion's neck. Sub-Zero's soul leapt back into him anxiously, and he panted hard as it settled back into his heart where it belonged. He looked towards his savior, Raiden, in relief and gratitude, but the god's eyes, which crackled with electricity, did not see him because they were fixed on the two sorcerers.

"Enough of this," his voice boomed like thunder, prompting all the fighters both good and evil to stop and face him. "For too long I have let others fight in my stead to protect that which is most dear to me. But not anymore. Leave our respective Champions out of this. I challenge you two to Mortal Kombat."

* * *

**Author's Note: Yes, Sub-Zero got his ass kicked by Shang Tsung. No, I will not change it because I have a plan in mind that requires him to get his ass kicked by Shang Tsung. Just wanted to clear that up ahead of time ;)  
**


	42. Clash of the Titans

Quan Chi and Shang Tsung, both now standing, laughed in wicked harmony at Raiden's declaration. "You cannot interfere, Thunder _God_," the Necromancer sneered. "You are not allowed to fight in Mortal Kombat unless directly challenged."

"And no one has challenged you," Shang Tsung added. "But it was a valiant effort."

"I renounce my mantle in direct defiance of the Elder Gods' wishes," Raiden replied. "So on behalf of Earthrealm, I _am _allowed to fight."

"A noble sacrifice," Quan Chi began with an arrogant smirk on his face. "But one made in vain. We have successfully raised the Dragon King's army, and we are now invincible. You will die, as will all your precious humans and Champions, and your souls will be the first we infuse into our new soldiers."

"Then what's the problem?" Raiden replied coolly, answering every bit as defiantly as one of his beloved warriors would have.

He took a bit of smug, self-satisfaction at calling Quan Chi's bluff, and perhaps enjoyed that fleeting, almost imperceptible expression of fear that crossed both sorcerers' faces a little too much. They clearly had expected him to back down, but in his wisdom he knew that whether or not he challenged them to Mortal Kombat, if his Champions failed – and they certainly seemed to be well on their way to that end – humanity was doomed anyway. That is why, when Sub-Zero told all the Earthrealm warriors to fight the Deadly Alliance directly, Raiden had already planned to intervene in spite of the Elder Gods' insistence that he leave it in the hands of the humans.

"I will not," he had argued with them in the midst of their great Temple in the sky while his Champions had gone to rescue the four captive Elementals.

"You will fail," Toci, the Goddess of Fire, had said, her voice gravelly, her eyes hard and cruel.

"Nephew," Gaia began, "If Quan Chi and Shang Tsung use the Elementals to raise the Dragon King's army, Earthrealm will be lost before it is invaded. It is young. Let it die. Fall back and-"

"No," Raiden had stubbornly told them.

"What is so special about these weak, barely conscious mortals?" Toci, ever the blunt one, snapped. "What is so special that you would sacrifice your mantel on the chance you could save them by doing so?" The three Elder Gods gazed at him for an explanation, all of them curious to know the answer.

"It is true that they are young and ignorant about the universe," he began after a long pause. "They are divided, chaotic, and barbaric in many ways. But they are also capable of many wondrous things. Many of them try to be more than they were born to be. They are noble creatures, far more so than any other race in all the Realms." Raiden now thought of his Champions, specifically the ever-pertinent Sub-Zero, and smiled knowingly. "They deserve a god who will fight for them just as much as they would fight for him."

Himavat smiled wistfully at him. "You see much, Nephew," he began. "But if you do this, you do this alone. We can't help you. We _won't _help you."

"Is this gamble worth it?" Toci asked pointedly. "Are your precious humans worth it?"

Raiden had already considered it, and so when she asked, he already knew the answer. It really was the only way to save Earthrealm from annihilation at the hands of the Dragon King's army. And so, back in Onaga's temple, his choice gave both sorcerers a moment to contemplate the wisdom of defying a god so clearly committed to fighting for the humans.

But their hesitation was short lived. Shang Tsung abruptly conjured a flaming skull from nothingness, throwing it at the thunder god without warning. Raiden waited until it almost hit him before he teleported in a cloud of crackling static electricity, reappeared behind him, and jumped to kick him in his back. Then he twisted off the demon sorcerer's shoulders, springing directly into a spinning crescent kick that met a charging Quan Chi's face. Both of them staggered backwards as he landed on his feet and promptly struck them both with lightning bolts that sprang from either palm. Brilliant showers of blue-white sparks rained on the room as both Shang Tsung and Quan Chi flew backwards in opposite directions.

* * *

Nearby, Sub-Zero struggled to roll onto his face to army-crawl out of the way of the immortals' battle, and he succeeded, but the blood loss from his wounded leg made his eyesight dark and fuzzy. Even freezing it hadn't made a difference; a pool of blood still collected beneath his body. Tears involuntarily sprang from his eyes and he wiped them away in embarrassment. He knew that even though it had been Shang Tsung who'd beaten him half to death, the sorcerer had worn his father's face, and just like his father he had managed to reduce the Cryomancer to a fearful child once again.

And then the Dragon Medallion on his chest suddenly jolted him. He groaned as he felt a surge from deep within, something like water, a blue, drowning agony that flooded across every nerve, finger to arm to shoulder to mind. A rigid, iron will that might well have conquered this new pain if it had been even remotely prepared was instead swept aside by the tide of psychic power. Kuai Liang's emotions and defenses were easily cleared away by the strongest of currents, and a brilliant illumination then rippled across his soul, casting the dark shadow of ancient memories upon the walls of his mind, sharing with him thousands of years of history in a single moment. It was as if the Dragon Medallion began to _know_.

With a cry of pain and fury, Sub-Zero tried to yank the thing from his chest as though it had begun to bite, but somehow it repelled his fumbling hand as its grip on him tightened. "Dammit!" he yelled as the skin of his palms, already damaged, split and tore beneath his fingernails, so tightly were they clenched. Fresh blood poured from them in torrents.

And then at last, it eased his pain as it ceased its invasion of his mind. The psychic waters receded back to the Medallion as if they'd never washed over him to begin with. Puzzled and certain he was hallucinating, a sure sign of impending death, Kuai Liang, trembling in shock, relaxed slightly as he now watched Shang Tsung counter Raiden's attack.

The sorcerer threw his arms up and with them followed a series of skulls launched into the air like rockets. They exploded beneath the thunder god's feet, knocking him to the floor as Quan Chi teleported above him and then drove his feet into his opponent's belly. Then the Necromancer leapt off Raiden's curling body, laughing at his groans of pain before kicking him several times in the ribs. The lightning god only tolerated that for a moment before he rolled to the side and then launched himself into the air like a torpedo homing in on a ship. He barreled into Quan Chi's middle, knocking him through a pillar without hesitation.

"Grandmaster!" Cyrax's synthesized voice suddenly cried as he ran through the newly falling debris with Smoke in tow.

"Can you move at all?" Tomas asked a moment later as the two cyber-ninjas crouched beside him. He leaned over so that he could look into his friend's eyes.

"If I could, do you think I'd be lying like this?" he mumbled as Raiden and Shang Tsung now started to trade punches.

"You're bleeding profusely from your leg," Cyrax announced.

"No kidding."

"Without diagnostic imaging, it's impossible to say for certain, but it's a strong possibility that the damage is primarily to your biceps femoris."

"In English, please," he said as his watery eyes stayed focused on Raiden and Shang Tsung.

"Part of your hamstring." His lieutenant promptly ripped apart his pant leg to expose the injury. "I'm going to cauterize your wound with my laser," he said. "It should stop the blood-"

"Would you shut up and just do it already?" Tomas snapped.

His comrade bristled at that. "Very well," he said in slight indignation.

Cyrax immediately pointed his left gauntlet at Sub-Zero's leg, focused a red dot on the injury, and then fired a thin beam of red light at it. Searing heat and unbearable stinging surged through his leg from the stab wound, coursing through his muscles down to his knee and up through his butt. It caught him by surprise, and he howled as he tried to dig his fingers into the floor just to brace himself, but it didn't work. The laser swiveled back and forth in small, short strokes, Sub-Zero's skin smoking as his wounded flesh sizzled and cooked, stopping up the blood. After several long seconds, his lieutenant finally stopped.

"You must turn onto your back, Grandmaster," Cyrax then said. "I have to cauterize the front of your leg as well."

"No, I'm good," the Cryomancer said, trembling from the pain. "I'm fine. Help the others."

"If I do not cauterize the front, at the rate you're losing blood, you'll die in a matter of minutes," the other warned.

"As lovely as your bedside manner is, Cyrax, I think I'll pass." He didn't want to tell him that his body still screamed in pain from Shang Tsung's magical skull, and probably from the Dragon Medallion's psychic invasion too. In his head, he saw An Zhi belittle him for his weakness. His father's displeasure in him was bad enough, but he didn't want the warriors under his command to think him weak either.

Unlike the yellow cyber-ninja, Tomas seemed to understand. "Don't be a stubborn mule, my _pr̆ítel_. I know it comes naturally to you, but I like you too much to let you die in such a stupid fashion. Here, I'll help you," he offered as he reached an arm around his friend's body and pulled hard enough to turn him over, frowning as his friend grimaced when he jarred his ribs. Smoke glanced at Cyrax and nodded. "Hey, do you remember the time we snuck out of the temple and went to Tingri to get drunk?" he then asked as he looked down on his best friend's face with a grin.

Sub-Zero looked up at him with a bewildered expression. "Is this really the time to take a trip down memory-"

With that, Cyrax fired the laser at his leg again, this time cauterizing the front of his thigh. Once more, the Cryomancer involuntarily howled in pain, and he writhed on the ground so violently that Smoke was forced to pin his shoulders to the floor. Part of Kuai Liang, the selfish part, wished Anya was there to heal him instead, and he bit his tongue to keep from calling for her, as if she'd hear him and come running. Finally, when the yellow cyber-ninja finished administering first aid, he looked at the Grandmaster to receive another command.

But Sub-Zero merely grabbed for his hand, missing at first and accidentally smearing a thick coat of his blood onto the bright yellow armor protecting his chest. "Thank you, Cyrax," he panted in exhaustion as his hand found his lieutenant's arm and stained it with even more blood before he gripped his hand and shook it.

"It is my duty," the other told him.

Sub-Zero didn't appreciate the implication that if he _weren't_ the Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei, Cyrax would've left him to die, but he merely swallowed his displeasure and said, "Regardless, thank you. Now go, help the others."

"Yes, Grandmaster," he said.

Cyrax got to his feet and rushed to help the others. Meanwhile, Smoke helped Sub-Zero sit up, letting his friend lean against him tiredly as both watched the fight between Raiden and the Deadly Alliance continue.

* * *

The former thunder god barely noticed his Champions rush to help each other bandage their wounds, and had only briefly glanced away from his battle when he heard Sub-Zero wail in pain nearby. He felt mildly responsible for the Cryomancer's terrible injuries; he should've warned him that Shang Tsung would look into his soul, find his biggest insecurities, and exploit them mercilessly. It came as no surprise that he'd imitated those who'd impacted his life the most. Raiden was mildly shocked that the sorcerer hadn't stolen Tomas and Bi-han's identity as well. Maybe if he hadn't intervened at that moment, Shang Tsung _would_ have imitated them.

But Raiden couldn't ponder it for long. Quan Chi was back in the fight now. He charged towards him and threw a right hook at him, but the thunder god easily blocked and countered with a hard left that spun the sorcerer around in a circle. Rather than fight the momentum, however, he followed it and used it to jump into the air and do a roundhouse kick to his opponent's shoulder. Raiden staggered as Quan Chi landed on the ground and stepped directly into a spinning back kick that knocked his enemy backwards even further. He recovered quickly, though, and stared down the Necromancer as they charged towards one another, then he ferociously punched him in the chest rapid fire until the other's pale white chest had taken on a scarlet hue. Raiden soon tired of chain punching his enemy, though, and finally just blasted the sorcerer with a thick bolt of branched lightning. Once more, Quan Chi flew through a pillar.

But while Raiden was distracted by the Necromancer, Shang Tsung conjured two fireballs and fired them at him. As they hurled towards him, they danced together, eventually fusing into a fiery ring that hit him directly in the back. Now it was _his _turn to fly as a ghostly green aura consumed the sorcerer. Before the god landed face-first on the hard floor, his old enemy was already bolting towards him, disappearing a split second before he reached him. Raiden pushed himself onto all fours, stunned, looking around for some sign of the sorcerer. Suddenly, Shang Tsung reappeared in front of him, still running as if his gait had never been interrupted by his teleportation, and he leaned into a low slide that carried him into his target. Like the pins in a human game called bowling, Raiden flew backwards.

When he slid to a stop, he quickly did a kip-up while Quan Chi now rushed and jumped into a snap kick that hit the thunder god's chest, but did not accomplish anything. With a ferocious shout, Raiden promptly threw a left hook at the Necromancer, who blocked and threw a right punch of his own. The god just as easily caught his fist and then led Quan Chi over his shoulder, throwing him to the side like a doll.

It was Shang Tsung's turn. He charged towards Raiden shouting a nonsensical load of gibberish and swung his right fist towards the god's face. The thunder god, in turn, vanished in static cloud and reappeared behind him, countering with a strong lightning bolt to his back. The thick arc of electricity carried the sorcerer into the wall on the other side of the room, and quite comically he slid to the floor, groaning in muted pain as if he were a cartoon.

Quan Chi had already recovered from being thrown into the floor, and he threw both a right hook and a left hook at his opponent, both of which the other blocked. With an evil, impatient sneer, the Necromancer tried once more with the right hook, this time succeeding and landing the shot. Mild pain filled the thunder god's cheek, but he scarcely noticed it because Quan Chi now jumped and kneed him in the chin before he powerfully extended his leg and kicked him in the chest. Raiden sailed into the nearest wall with a startled cry.

* * *

"What do we do now, Ice Man?" Jax asked Sub-Zero as he carried Sonya's limp, unconscious body to him and Tomas.

Their little corner of the temple was rapidly looking like a hastily erected first aid tent in the middle of a terrible battle. Scorpion had already returned carrying Kitana, who was bleeding from her own stab wound as well as a nasty bite to her throat, and looking exceptionally pale. Jade came with them, cut up and bruised, but otherwise okay. Cyrax and Johnny had dragged Kabal on their shoulders, one leg shorter than the other and clearly snapped, to the group. Nightwolf slunk in after Jax holding his arm, which was broken and bent at an odd angle just above his wrist.

"What do I look like, the man with the plan?" Sub-Zero snapped at the Ranger as he shifted uncomfortably against Tomas. His strength, though faint, had already recovered somewhat. Though still in considerable pain, he strangely felt like he'd rested for several days rather than a few minutes.

"You look like the man in charge to me," Jax snorted indignantly.

"Me?" he cried. "You're the Army Captain. I'm pretty sure the commanding officer of the Army Rangers beats a Lin Kuei assassin."

"Well, I don't," he replied. "You got us into this mess, you're the one who better get us out, dammit. So yeah, you're the man with the plan."

Kuai Liang started to argue, but thought about it and sighed. He couldn't deny Jax's logic. "Yeah, I am, aren't I?" He surveyed the scene. Outworld and Netherrealm's Champions huddled in a similar fashion in the other corner, though they seemed far less wounded than the warriors from Earthrealm. He quickly weighed all the factors available to him, and he almost immediately realized that if he and his teammates tried to continue the fight, they'd be killed for sure. And he was almost certain that Raiden had sacrificed his godhood just to prevent that from happening. Therefore, though he hated the idea, there was only one option.

"We have to retreat," he told them.

"Goddammit, you sonofabitch!" Kabal yelled at him, his voice mingling eerily with the sharp hiss of oxygen escaping his broken mask. "That's what Stryker suggested to begin with!"

"I know-"

"He just got his head squashed like a bug because you said there was only one chance to win this fight," the other snarled. "And then you go and change your mind-" The detective, still braced by Johnny and Cyrax, jumped to kick the Cryomancer with his good foot, but missed. Still, it prompted Sub-Zero, who now felt threatened, to climb to his feet in spite of the vertigo swirling through his head.

"You want to be in charge?" he snapped as everyone crowded around the two. "You think this is all fun and games? You think you can make the hard decisions while you're cracking jokes? Think again, pal."

"Hey, fuck you," Kabal hissed. "I'm ten times the man _you_ are."

"Well, maybe someday I can be a piece of beef jerky too," he growled.

As expected, the detective yelled something incoherently as he tried to kick the Cryomancer once more, but this time Sub-Zero grabbed his foot. He would've broken it too if Tomas hadn't yanked him back so violently that his ribs screamed in pain just as Scorpion and Kitana both yelled, "Enough!"

"This is a waste of time," the Princess added as she firmly pressed her sword wound and hung off Scorpion's shoulder tiredly.

"You're acting like children," the wraith growled in disapproval. He then looked at everyone. "I agree with Sub-Zero's analysis. We can't defeat the Deadly Alliance or any of their Champions in our present condition. All we can do now is retreat."

"I agree too," Jax said. "Live to fight another day."

"You're all assholes," Kabal snarled. He looked down at his boots, unable to do much else.

Kuai Liang almost felt bad for him. But he didn't have time for pity. "Get out of here now," he ordered them all. "Smoke and I will stay behind to make sure none of those goons come after you. Get Anya, Khadija, and Sherman because they're not gonna know how to fight to protect themselves. They'll need you to look after them. And Anya will know how to help the wounded."

"But Grandmaster," Cyrax protested, "one of us lesser-ranked warriors should fight in your stead so that you can continue to lead. Let _me_ stay while you go."

"No, you need to teleport everyone to safety," he firmly replied. "Last I checked, I can't do that, at least not the same range that you can, and Smoke's teleportation device looks too damaged to use."

"It is," Tomas announced in agreement. "Though I'll gladly let C3PO, here, take my place," he joked as he looked at his yellow-clad comrade.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Kuai Liang hissed, not understanding the reference that earned faintly amused chuckles from most of their teammates.

"I'll tell you later," he answered.

"Whatever," he said. He looked at Scorpion. "When you teleport, can you take a passenger?" he asked and the wraith nodded solemnly. "Then I want you and Cyrax to evacuate everyone to the western ridge high above our hideout. And then get the hell out of here as fast as you can. If Smoke and I survive, we'll catch up to you."

As the Earthrealm warriors started heading towards the door, Scorpion extended his free forearm to the Cryomancer. When Sub-Zero extended his own, his tentative ally gripped his forearm tightly in a show of…brotherhood? He cocked a confused brow at the Shirai Ryu ninja, whose eyes almost smiled at him. There was something knowing about his expression, or at least the part of his expression not concealed by his bony mask, and he said, "You've exceeded my expectations, and proven to me that not everyone in the Lin Kuei is created equal. I am proud to have allied myself with one so courageous and noble."

"As am I," Kitana added weakly.

Sub-Zero wasn't sure what to say in response, so he merely answered, "Thank you. Now go. Get out while you can. And go find Anya," he ordered the Princess, looking at her neck wound with grave concern. "She can help you."

"I doubt she'll be happy to see me," the other replied with a faint smile that revealed thoughts of her bold kiss not too long ago. "Until we meet again, Kuai Liang," the Princess said as Scorpion now vanished with her through a portal.

Sub-Zero sighed and then looked at Tomas, who was scowling at him and had his arms crossed. "What?" he asked in confusion.

"Don't give me that," the other said. "Exactly how many new best friends _did_ you make while I was…under the weather? And why was that woman giving you doe-eyes?"

"It was nothing, Tomas," he replied.

His friend shook his head with an agitated sigh. "You really _do _get around, don't you?"

"Idiot," he muttered. "No, I don't, and this isn't the time or place to have this discussion."

"Shameless hussy," the other said.

* * *

Raiden, who'd long since recovered from getting kicked into the wall, inwardly sighed in relief when he noticed his Champions rushing from the temple. It didn't surprise him, however, to see Sub-Zero, with Smoke right behind him, limp to the exit to guard it from their enemies. A noble fool, he clearly meant to slow any followers determined to kill Earthrealm's elite. But the warriors from Outworld and Netherrealm made no movements towards the arched passageway, so the thunder god focused instead on the battle at hand.

Shang Tsung and Quan Chi both charged towards him from either direction, with the former slightly ahead of the latter, so the god leapt into the air and kicked him backwards. Then he propelled from the sorcerer's chest, following the circular momentum, and landed in time to blast Quan Chi with a blue-white lightning bolt. The Necromancer screamed in pain as he soared towards the soulnado, landing within inches of its twisting base. Shang Tsung now conjured a fireball that Raiden deflected with a shield of static electricity, forcing it to ricochet back to its master alongside yet another bolt of lightning. It was the sorcerer's turn to scream as it knocked him to the ground.

Suddenly, ghastly skeleton hands that glowed green burst from the floor beneath Raiden's feet and gripped his ankles tightly. He cried out in shock as he saw Quan Chi kip-up and race towards him while the hands anchored him in place. The Necromancer jumped into the air, his body angled slightly back as his feet met Raiden's chest and then stomped him like he was peddling a bicycle on its side. The thunder god, fixed into place, groaned as pain spread through his torso and Quan Chi fell onto his hands before righting himself. Once upright, he immediately blasted his opponent with a larger-than-life skull glowing the same cancerous green that wreathed the skeleton hands. The bony fingers released him when the skull smashed into his body, and he toppled onto his back as the Necromancer wickedly laughed at him.

Mildly embarrassed, Raiden sat up and threw out his right hand towards Quan Chi, sending a bolt of lightning with it. The sorcerer gracefully flipped from its path, so the thunder god tried again with his other hand. Once more, he dodged his attack. Finally, Raiden grunted in frustration, threw up _both _hands, and shot twin bolts of lightning towards his enemy. This time, he found his target and laughed in satisfaction as Quan Chi's body writhed and seized from the electrical current pulsing through him before collapsing to the floor in a pitiful heap.

Now Shang Tsung ran towards Raiden at top speed, but just before he reached him, the god stepped completely around, rigidly extending his arm completely so that his enemy clotheslined himself on it. The sorcerer's body unwillingly flipped up feet-first, and he slammed into the ground on his back so hard that he struggled to breathe thereafter. Even still, he managed to utter some ancient words while he punched at the air above him, prompting a battery of burning skulls to explode from the floor and knock Raiden into the air. The thunder god soon landed on his side, but didn't linger there for a second. Immediately, he rolled to his feet, virtually unaffected by the sorcerer's spell.

Once more, Quan Chi and Shang Tsung attacked him at once, but he aptly defended himself by throwing a right hook at the latter before spinning into a back fist aimed at the former. As both sorcerer's staggered from the powerful blows, Raiden then snap-kicked Shang Tsung before he jumped up high and hooked a leg around his opponent's neck. His grip was firm and he easily slammed his enemy into the floor when they both fell to it.

But Quan Chi took advantage of his superior posture and immediately gripped Raiden's shoulders before he kneed him in the face and then cracked his elbow into the back of the thunder god's skull. The blow actually dazed him, and stars swam through his vision as the Necromancer swiftly followed with a swift kick to the ribs and another one to the face.

Raiden's face burned and throbbed in rare pain, but it wasn't unbearable – that was even rarer – so he did a kip-up to face his opponents. Yet again, they charged him from different angles, but this time, he waited until they had nearly reached them. Then, he jumped and simultaneously did the splits, kicking them both in the face. As they staggered, Raiden sprang backwards onto his hands and let his body flow into a cartwheel that put him into a perfect fighting stance.

Before they could recover, he summoned every crackle of static, no matter how small, to him. His body rapidly glowed with an electric aura comprised completely of lightning, and forked bolts wreathed his all-white eyes. Thunder boomed throughout the chamber, paying its respect to his power. Raiden pulled his hands towards each other, feeling the bizarre, invisible push of their reversed polarity, circling them around each other like he played with a large ball. And then a ball _did_ form, one that glowed as brilliantly as his eyes, and it showered the floor with sparks as it grew bigger between his palms. Finally, when it was roughly the size of a beach ball, it exploded. As if he were a giant conductor nestled at the heart of a Tesla's coil, arcs of electricity burst from him and struck the walls, causing a shockwave to reverberate towards him in reply, destabilizing the soulnado as it effectively knocked everyone onto their backs.

Quan Chi was stunned silly, groaning in pathetic delirium on the floor, but Shang Tsung had the presence of mind to call on a higher power. He glanced weakly towards the soulnado, twisting green and evil with nearly every soul he'd ever imprisoned, and reached for it as he chanted bizarre words that even Raiden didn't understand. The former thunder god watched uncertainly as a stream of ethereal green magic plunged into him and Quan Chi both, enveloping their bodies with the power of the lost souls fueling the Dragon King's army. To Raiden's surprise, the Deadly Alliance now rose to their feet.

The thunder god lowered his head and scowled in determination, but his stubbornness proved futile. He fired more lightning bolts at both of them, but they both calmly held up their right hands, almost as if operating with a single mind, and deflected the electricity as they continued to stalk towards him. Then, as they chanted more strange words, they moved their hands in graceful circles in opposition to each other. A swarm of glowing green flies sprang into existence around Quan Chi's while a flaming cobra the size of a dragon rose up behind Shang Tsung. The ethereal creatures attacked at once, the flies twisting around the serpent in a line like a double helix, and with sharp fangs bared the snake coiled around Raiden. Both lifted him towards the ceiling as they bit and stung him with their dark magic, spinning him in rapid circles until he felt dizzy, like he'd just lassoed a tornado. He struggled to get free, but failed. Finally, when he thought he couldn't take any more, the magically conjured creatures slammed him into the ground as hard as they could, driving him like a wedge into the hard floor. Raiden groaned, wondering how this could've happened, as his vision faded to black.

* * *

Sub-Zero and Smoke, who took longer to recover from Raiden's shockwave than the Deadly Alliance, helped each other to their feet in time to see a mystical cobra and swarm of flies pound the former deity into the ground, rendering him unconscious. At least, the Cryomancer _hoped _he was merely unconscious. If Quan Chi and Shang Tsung were now so powerful they could destroy an immortal, what chance did he and Tomas stand against them? But fortunately, the sorcerers had long since forgotten about the two remaining Earthrealm warriors, and now faced each other, surely to congratulate each other on a job well-done.

"Can we go now?" Tomas whispered uncertainly to Kuai Liang. "If Raiden's alive, he can just teleport from here. And if he's not, it still makes no difference to us."

"Wait a minute," the Grandmaster replied. "Look." He pointed to Shang Tsung and Quan Chi, who now seemed to be arguing. "What's going on?"

"Who cares? Let's go!"

And now the two sorcerers started throwing punches and kicks at each other. He almost laughed. "It looks like they've turned on each other," he said with a wicked grin as Outworld's Champions immediately attacked Netherrealm's. "This could be the stroke of luck we were waiting for."

"Yeah, tell it to Stryker's corpse because I'm sure he's just been dying to hear that." Smoke tugged on his best friend's tattered tunic. "There's nothing more we can do here except get ourselves killed, Kuai Liang. So we really need to get the hell out of here before they realize we're still here and come after us. If Raiden's alive, he can take care of them when he's done napping."

"Okay, I'm coming," he agreed as they turned and started to leave.

Suddenly, a huge explosion shook the temple so hard that the ceiling above the warriors cracked and sifted fine dust onto their heads. Outside, horrible shrieking as high and squeaky as nails on a chalkboard cut through the typical battlefield noise and found its way inside, forcing everyone to stop what they were doing. What could have possibly frightened seasoned warriors like the Edenian rebels so much that they'd shriek like women like that? And then the temple shook again, but this time in a rhythmic cadence, as if something huge was stomping towards them. The steady pounding toppled everyone to the floor as it grew louder and closer.

_He is coming!_ The warning wasn't so much a collection of words in Kuai Liang's brain as it was a strong, anxious urge to flee. He felt terror, not his own but a feeling just as strong, because he knew who trampled towards them.

"What the hell is that?" Smoke cried.

In the passageway, a towering silhouette of some beastly creature appeared. Apparently the source of the quaking temple, he stamped towards them steadily, relentlessly. Soon, Sub-Zero made out the distinct outline of large, horned wings and glowing yellow eyes, and then a great pair of horns protruding from the top of his skull. The Cryomancer, not waiting to be the creature's first victim, quickly pushed Tomas to the side only moments before he burst from the passageway.

Now, as he and his best friend crouched against the wall to avoid detection, he saw a bizarre fusion of man and dragon, a monster who stood at least ten feet tall, whose wingspan was probably three times that size. He dwarfed everyone in the room, even Goro, a monster in his own right. Sub-Zero glanced at the Shokan, and he would've been amused to see the look of staunch terror on the General's face if the situation weren't so dire. The skeleton army immediately swiveled their skulls to stare at the newcomer, then knelt in reverence as it stomped towards Quan Chi and Shang Tsung both.

Sub-Zero's heart sank into the pit of his stomach, especially when the Necromancer, with eyes as big as saucers, cried, "It can't be! By the Elder Gods, it _can't_ be!" The instincts within the Cryomancer somehow knew what had reduced Quan Chi to a frightened mess.

"Kuai Liang, please tell me I'm having a bad dream," Tomas mumbled next to him. "Please tell me that's not who I _think _it is."

"No, my _pr̆ítel_, you're not dreaming," he replied softly, in just as much shock as anyone else in the room. "That's Onaga, the Dragon King."


	43. Blood Sacrifices

Onaga surveyed the scene, his large head swiveling back and forth to gaze at everyone and everything inside his temple, unfazed when Quan Chi and Shang Tsung united once again and blasted him with green and orange skulls. It seemed that even their most potent projectiles didn't matter to him, and his reptilian yellow eyes narrowed as he stalked ever closer. The Deadly Alliance's Champions, evidently knowing a losing battle when they saw it, retreated through a dark passageway at the rear of the room.

"Let's get out of here!" Smoke whispered frantically to Sub-Zero.

"Okay," he whispered back. They both stood and crept towards the main passage.

"Where do you think you're going, Grandmaster?" the Dragon King asked in a deep, silky voice that reverberated off the walls, not even looking at the two ninjas trying to escape. "Please, stay."

Caught utterly by surprise, Sub-Zero couldn't begin to react when Onaga raised his arm and flicked his wrist forward. An invisible tether suddenly yanked the Cryomancer towards the soulnado, propelling him so hard that his brain didn't even register the sensation until he was already on the floor near the two sorcerers. A fiery shock crossed his chest as flashes of the Dragon King's power penetrated his body. The Dragon Medallion quivered, and he felt a surge of energy through it, but it did nothing to help.

Sub-Zero found himself hunched on his knees before the Dragon King, a humiliating posture of subservience, with Shang Tsung and Quan Chi standing on either side of him like sentries. He glanced at Smoke, who now stood before the exit, not wanting to abandon his best friend, refusing to leave. The distance between the two Lin Kuei assassins was only a matter of yards, but with the Dragon King between them, it might have well been the entire Gobi Desert.

Kuai Liang straightened, certain he was going to die now, and determined to die fighting. A kori sword was now in his hand, ready to strike, and his powers surged in his other palm, a ball of energy to be thrown at need. He glared at his newest enemy, but Onaga merely smiled.

* * *

Anya had barely opened her eyes before she felt as angry as a hornet. Oh, Kuai Liang was _dead_ when she got her hands on him. That jackass had no right telling her what to do and…and _assaulting _her with his powers to ensure her obedience, and all because he held onto some misplaced notion of chivalry. She groaned, also feeling hung over as if she'd gone on one hell of a bender, and she held her head to steady the overwhelming sense of seasickness. Her vision, which had been fuzzy, rapidly cleared just in time to see Cyrax and…Scorpion? appear from portals that sprung from thin air and march towards her, Khadija, and Sherman.

"Scorpion?" she mumbled stupidly. "What are _you _doing here?"

He ignored her question, and instead lifted her to her feet by her arm. "You will come with me," he said in a no-nonsense voice, probably the only voice he'd ever had.

"And you two will teleport with me," Cyrax said to the others.

"Um, okay," Sherman said nervously while Khadija, clearly afraid to talk to strange men, shied away.

But Anya didn't notice either one of them. Her eyes automatically focused on large smears of drying blood that stained Cyrax's yellow breastplate and arm. A stone settled in her stomach. "Cyrax, where is Kuai Liang?" she asked slowly, not certain she wanted to hear the answer.

"It is of no consequence right now," Scorpion coldly replied as he yanked on her arm.

With an infuriated snarl, she shoved him away and went to the cyber-ninja. "Cyrax, where is he? What happened?" Cyrax, as if he felt guilty, looked away, prompting panic to rise in Anya's throat. "Dammit, tell me! Whose blood is this?" She ran her fingers across the dried gore, and tears sprang to her eyes. "Cyrax?" she whispered as she rested her hands on his robotic shoulders, her watery eyes staring directly into his tinted visor.

Gently, the cyber-ninja rested his hands over hers. "It is his," he said softly.

Anya felt punched in the gut. "Well…where is he?" she asked, her voice cracking, the grief-stricken cries refusing to escape, but the tears indifferently falling. "How did he get so hurt? Maybe I can help him."

Cyrax shook his head. "He was gravely wounded by Shang Tsung…" he said but trailed off. "_Many_ of us were severely wounded by enemy forces. We had to retreat. He…He and Smoke stayed behind to make sure the rest of us could get away."

Anya's lip started quivering as the painful ball of sorrow in her throat threatened to explode. "But he's gonna catch up to us, right?" she asked. "He's gonna come find us?"

"That is unlikely," Scorpion bluntly said. "Even if Outworld and Netherrealm's forces did not kill them, the Dragon King probably has. Somehow, Onaga lives again, and he entered the temple after we escaped."

Anya quickly looked from him to Cyrax. "That's not true, is it?" she asked, even though she knew, deep down, that it was. "Please, tell me that's not true."

The cyber-ninja looked away again. "They were alive when we left, but Scorpion's determination is almost certainly accurate. If they're alive now, they won't be much longer."

Now Anya couldn't contain her grief, and she shamelessly let it explode in front of the seasoned warriors. The tears burned as they streamed down her dirty face, and she collapsed onto her knees as she bawled into her equally filthy hands. She felt sick inside, lost. How could Kuai Liang leave her like this? How could he abandon her in this stupid, little cave in this stupid, little Realm, a pilgrim in an unholy land? She didn't even get to say goodbye…

Suddenly, Anya realized that she could save him. She could march her butt to the temple and save both him _and _Smoke. She had the power now. She dried her face, sniffed one last time, and climbed to her feet.

"What do you think you're doing?" Scorpion hissed at her as she stalked towards the mouth of the cave.

"I'm not going to let him die so easily," she stubbornly said as she started to climb over the boulders and into the open air.

But suddenly, a strong pair of arms clamped around Anya's body, and she yelped as the demon wraith dragged her back into the shadows of the cave. "Sub-Zero may have tolerated your obstinacy, woman, but_ I_ will not," he growled. "He sacrificed himself so that we could escape, and especially you. Honor his final wish."

Anya now cried as she started to kick and claw at Scorpion. She was determined to go back. "No!" she shrieked through agonized tears, slightly frightened by how firm he held her. "I've got to help him. Please, you've got to let me go!"

Now the wraith dragged her to the edge of the cave and forced her to look at the battlefield below. "Look at that," he snapped as the Dragon King's soldiers deftly hacked through the rebel lines. "That's what stands between you and him."

"I don't care," she sobbed. She could hardly see the battle raging below through her hot tears.

"_He _cared. He sent us to retrieve you and charged us with protecting you. He was a courageous man, so even if _you_ will not honor his wishes, _I _will."

"You've got to help me save him. While he's still alive-"

"He's _not _alive!" Scorpion yelled at her. "He's dead." He paused and uncharacteristically sighed, softening his tone drastically. "He's dead, Annalise. There's nothing you or I or anyone can do for him now."

Scorpion's utter certainty jarred her from her crazed single-mindedness, and she sagged in his arms, blinded by even more tears now. She choked, and then the knot in her throat exploded. Hysterical sobs escaped her as she incoherently whined for Kuai Liang, hoping against hope that the demon wraith and the cyber-ninja were painfully wrong, thinking that perhaps if she called out for him loud enough he'd come running to her. But she never got the chance to see if she was right. Scorpion dragged her body through a portal he conjured behind them.

* * *

"Return my Medallion, and I swear to you I will give you an honorable death," Onaga announced. "And when I hunt them down – and I _will _hunt them down – I will give _all _your friends honorable deaths as well."

"Do _not _give it to him, Sub-Zero," Quan Chi muttered. "All of the Realms will cease to exist as we know them. All who defy him will die."

"Sounds familiar," he growled back, though he had no intention of handing over the Medallion to Onaga. It clearly held special value to him; it was no mere trinket. And Kuai Liang wanted to know why.

As if reading his thoughts, the Dragon King said, "My offer is only good for another few seconds, Grandmaster. And then you will beg me to end your suffering, but only after I make you watch me destroy your friends. There are special tortures you've never even heard of that I can do to them, starting with your dearest friend, Tomas, and finishing with your precious love, Anya." He spoke his threat as matter-of-factly as a robot, his voice so utterly calm and certain that Sub-Zero never once before believed a threat so adamantly.

Yet, when Onaga threatened Tomas and Anya, _his _resolve strengthened. "I don't think so," he hissed.

"Your tenacity, though it endears you to Raiden, does not impress me," he said as he took a step towards the three warriors.

As if they'd forged a new alliance, an unholy one born from necessity, the two sorcerers and the Cryomancer immediately fired every weapon in their arsenal at his imposing figure. From the other side of the room, Smoke shot missiles and smoke bombs from his damaged gauntlet as well; they hooked to the side, exploding harmlessly nearly ten feet to the left, but he quickly adjusted and compensated. But as it had when the Dragon King first arrived, their combined effort failed. Their power did not even slow him down. Onaga simply looked at his chest and brushed it as casually as if he were shooing a fly, and he didn't even _notice_ Smoke's missiles. The Dragon King didn't have to laugh; an evil smirk sufficed.

And then he inhaled deeply, the sight of which filled Sub-Zero with dread. It should have. A white and orange fireball suddenly spewed from his mouth and hurled towards the three warriors. The tail that trailed behind it was like that of a comet, and a terrible thunder accompanied it, like it was a dragon in its own right roaring as it flew. The Cryomancer and the sorcerers immediately leapt from the incoming attack, but the flames behaved like Greek fire, splashing when it hit the ground, sending out blazing tendrils in all directions, sticking to anything it touched. It splattered on Sub-Zero's body like bubbling lava, and to the same end. His arm was suddenly engulfed in brilliant light, a fire that couldn't be quelled by his icy powers. It bit into him and ripped his arm apart after he dropped his sword and then crumpled to the floor. He howled.

As the Cryomancer writhed in pain, the agony blooming through him like a poisonous vine full of thorns, a pair of hands plunged through the flames and gripped his arm. To his surprise, he saw Raiden there, and the former god somehow sucked the fire away. Almost immediately the flames were gone, leaving steaming and burnt skin behind. He then lifted Sub-Zero to his feet.

"You must escape from this place," he said.

"You think?" he countered, the pain in his arm frenzied and angry like a thousand wasps stinging him at once. He didn't know how much more punishment his body could take.

"No matter what happens, you _cannot _let Onaga have the Medallion. I don't care how you go about it, even if it means your death or the death of someone you love. He cannot reclaim it."

Onaga spewed another fireball at them, but this time, Raiden shielded them both with a wall crafted from static electricity. It redirected the ball towards the adjacent wall, instantly setting it on fire. Thick clouds of smoke soon billowed from it, burning Sub-Zero's eyes and forcing them to water uncontrollably. He coughed and then tried to shield his mouth and nose with his arm.

"Go!" Raiden urged him as he shoved him towards the door. "You're in charge now. Take care of them."

Kuai Liang paused. He knew exactly who 'them' were, but that the former thunder god, Earthrealm's sworn protector, would trust him with such a huge responsibility, with leading them and keeping them safe, shocked him. There was no love lost between the two, and whenever they spoke it almost always was to argue. Why would Raiden put him in charge? He looked at the deity in puzzlement, but the other's attention was focused on Onaga, who stalked towards them once again.

The Cryomancer knew he had no shot at a foot race with the Dragon King; his leg, though no longer pouring blood, still ached unbearably, and he suspected the only reason he could even bear weight on it was because adrenaline coursed through his body. So, Sub-Zero would take the easy way. Instantly, he threw himself backwards and through his ice portal just as Raiden, Quan Chi, and Shang Tsung attacked the Dragon King once more. He hated to run – it was cowardly, he thought – but if the Medallion was as important as the immortals all believed, running was the only way to keep it from Onaga's hands. Sub-Zero calmly shifted through layers of ice and snow, and emerged standing beside Smoke.

"What took you so long?" his friend asked as they turned to escape.

But Onaga wasn't letting them leave so easily. Immediately, he flew into the air like a rocket, twisted, and landed on the ground before them with a hard crash. His landing violently shook the entire structure like an earthquake, and the two Lin Kuei assassins toppled helplessly to the ground. The Dragon King didn't laugh at them like Shao Kahn would've. He merely stood in their path, his powerful arms crossed, his reptilian yellow eyes scowling at them both.

"Jesus, it's like fighting Bowser in real life," Smoke mumbled as he climbed to his feet and helped his friend to stand.

"What are you blathering on about now?" he replied as they both took fighting stances.

"Oh, for Christ's sake, you don't know about _that_ either?" he cried. "You were in the States for over a year!"

"I had better things to do with my time than study pop culture, you know," Sub-Zero snapped. "Not all of us have the luxury of having a Peter Pan complex."

"Oooh, look at me, I'm Sub-Zero and I'm a grown-up who can throw around big, psychological terms on a whim," the cyber-ninja mocked in a childish voice a second before he fired a smoke grenade at the Dragon King. As dense, black smoke whirled around him, the two warriors tried to duck around his menacing figure. Unaffected by it, though, Onaga immediately swung an enormous arm around, caught them, and knocked them backwards. Once again, several yards separated the two fighters.

"I'm going to squash you like an insect, human vermin," Onaga growled, his attention solely focused on Sub-Zero, just as Quan Chi rushed to attack. He merely batted him away like a fly, hitting him into the adjacent wall as if he weighed nothing.

"Well, you've got to catch me first, your Highness," he taunted. Inside, he almost felt the Dragon Medallion…flex?...at his defiance, the vaguest sensation of something like amusement.

Now Shang Tsung and Raiden both tried to attack with physical violence rather than magical, but their effort worked as well as Quan Chi's. Both sorcerer and former god found themselves flat on their backs in front of the soulnado.

Panting heavily, his heart pounding so hard in his chest it wouldn't shock him if it exploded, Sub-Zero watched the Dragon King stamp towards him. He had to time this just right. If he didn't, Onaga would reunite with the Medallion and the Cryomancer would be a nasty grease smear on the floor of the temple.

Steady…The closer the tyrant came, the harder his footsteps fell, and the harder it was to stand.

_Oh, God, please don't let me fall_, Kuai Liang inwardly muttered as he summoned his powers to his hands. Familiar fog wafted from them in clouds.

Steady…Onaga's menacing frame now filled his vision.

_I want to see Anya again…And my friends…And my kids back in Arctika. _

As expected, the Dragon King lunged at him, and when he did, Sub-Zero was ready. Immediately, a kori sword was in his hand as he launched himself forward on a sheet of ice, crouching to his knees and gliding beneath his enemy's stout-but-long legs. He rammed his sword into Onaga's crotch at just the right moment. The Cryomancer didn't expect his blow to kill him, just stop him long enough for him and Smoke to escape. And it worked. The Dragon King, in agony Sub-Zero could only begin to imagine, toppled to the floor and wailed. His fall shook the ground so hard that the Cryomancer fell as well, but he wasted no time scrambling to his feet and reuniting with Tomas once again.

"Nice shot!" his friend cried.

"Yeah, it was awesome," he flatly replied as he pushed him towards the exit.

"Catch them!" Onaga roared at his skeleton soldiers. Immediately, they gave chase, and swarmed after the two warriors like a cloud of hornets.

* * *

At the top of the ridge, Scorpion and Cyrax deposited their passengers amongst the other Earthrealm warriors, but Anya scarcely noticed through her tears. Khadija immediately hugged her to comfort her. Though the nurse barely knew Kabal's twin sister, she hugged her back and sobbed on her shoulder as the woman held her muddy head. She was so hurt and so _angry_ that she couldn't even see straight, and she didn't want to press on.

"Lemme guess," Sonya hissed, "the bucket of bolts told her about Sub-Zero."

"No, I did," Scorpion growled, his eyes flashing with fire as if to dare the Army Ranger to make an issue with him about it.

Naturally, she _was_, but Jax immediately shot them both a look before he stepped to Anya and rested a hand on her shoulder. "Baby girl," he began in a soothing voice, "I know this is a hard time for you, but we've got to get moving. I need you to do what you're best at, patching people up, so we can do that."

"What's the point?" she snapped, her head still heavily resting on Khadija's shoulder. "We're all gonna die now anyway."

"Because if we can live long enough, maybe we can find a way to beat this ass-ugly dude, _and _his freak-show army."

"_Maybe_," she retorted. "A big, big _maybe_."

"Yeah, it is," he replied, "but I'm willing to try."

"I think it's what Sub-Zero would've done," Khadija whispered to her. "I know I barely knew him, but from everything I've seen of him, I don't think he was the sort to give up when things got hard."

At her words, Anya cried harder, but she nodded. "He wasn't. Even when he probably should have."

"I have a feeling that's one of the things he loves about you too. You're not a quitter either. And I think he'd probably be unhappy with you if you gave up _now_."

Anya knew Khadija spoke the truth, even though it pained her, so she cried one last moment and then bit her lip to force herself to stop. Kuai Liang _would _be ticked off, royally so, if she didn't use her knowledge and newfound powers to help their friends survive. He would say she was being selfish, and he'd be right. So she straightened, wiped her face, and looked at Jax.

"Who's hurt the worst?" she wanted to know. "I don't have a lot of energy left. I'm still pretty tired. So we're gonna triage this."

"Take care of Kitana first," he said as he nodded towards the blue-clad figure slumped weakly against a rock. "Baraka bit into her neck like some kind of vampire reject, and then he stabbed her through the gut."

The nurse nodded and immediately went to her to survey the damage. The bite wound to the Princess' throat looked like raw hamburger weeping blood, but the stab wound bled even worse, so the woman had firmly held a hand to it to stop the flow. Terribly pale and unconscious, Anya knew her patient didn't have much time left.

She didn't quite know what she was doing, but her instincts commanded her to grip Kitana's cheeks with her palms and concentrate. She obeyed them and was relieved when she felt her spirit connect with the Edenian's and the woman began to heal. But a jarring, uncontrollable thing happened then; as her wounds closed, her patient's memories became Anya's, and the nurse saw them as clearly in her mind as she would her own. She tried to yank her mind away, feeling as if she was invading the woman's privacy, but she couldn't. Thoughts, secrets, feelings flowed into her like water channeled from a lake. And she felt guilt – _Kitana's _guilt – over one memory in particular at the forefront of the Edenian's mind.

She sat on a grotesque beach under a black sky, lost in thought over Liu Kang, when she sensed Sub-Zero's presence behind her. _He _had struggled with his loss about as well as she had, and he needed to be alone. He didn't know she was there, and he tried to leave when he realized his mistake, but she beckoned him to stay. Kitana was thankful for his presence because she enjoyed his company; though she'd come to love the Earthrealm Champions like brothers and sisters, they were quite chaotic and loud. _Too _loud, usually. But not Sub-Zero. Even in his worst anguish, he always maintained a calm aura, even though inside the Princess was certain he was more chaotic than anyone. His presence made _her _feel calm, and attracted to him, so after they exchanged a few words, she kissed him.

Anya recoiled at the memory, of the way the feel of his lips on Kitana's had filled the Princess with frantic desire, how it had pleased her when he didn't resist but kissed her back. It was like they _needed_ each other, and it had taken the deaths of Liu Kang and Anya for them to realize it. An aching, burning pain had filled her groin, and she'd wanted to make love to him right there on her little blanket on the sand. But suddenly, he'd realized himself and pulled back before he rushed away, guilt-ridden, grief-stricken, and embarrassed. And now, Kitana felt guilty too, not because she had forgotten Liu Kang so quickly, but because she realized that she'd loved someone else all along.

Anya let go of Kitana's cheeks then, trembling in anger at the unfairness of what she'd seen, just as the Princess' eyes snapped open. She inhaled a long, shuddering breath, then looked at the nurse, whose face was red with fury. "Oh, Anya, I'm so sorry," she said, knowing exactly what the Hydromancer had seen.

"No, you're not," she snapped. "If I wasn't around, you'd still be-" She stifled her words because she wanted to yell, and didn't fight the fresh tears streaming down her face. These ones were fueled by rage. She swallowed hard and continued. "Of all the women in the world, I thought that _you'd_ actually be the one with an ounce of decency, Kitana. And that's what makes this worse. I never once expected you to do something so low, so _dirty_."

"He _loves_ you," she replied.

"Yeah? Well, he's dead. And I should've let you die too," she snarled as she got to her feet.

"Did I miss something?" Jax asked her as he looked from Anya to Kitana and back again.

"Evidently, you missed a lot," the nurse grumbled as she looked at Kabal's leg.

"You gonna let us all in on your little secret?" the masked man asked.

She glanced at Sherman and then looked at the detective. "It's not appropriate for younger ears," she said with a scowl.

Then suddenly, a monstrous voice screamed, "Catch them!" The words bellowed loudly, like a deep-throated call that struck the dusty cliffs and echoed through the valley, demanding that all who heard it heed it. For a moment, the Dragon King's army halted their slaughter, and the Edenian rebels and the Earthrealm Champions stopped their activities as well. Then the echoes died as abruptly as they started, and now a small regiment of skeletal soldiers broke from the main army and charged unnaturally fast up the western ridge.

"It's time to go!" Sonya yelled.

Even as she said it, they heard the rhythmic cadence of the soldier's armor clanking towards them, the noise growing louder by the second. Below the ridge's edge there came unearthly cries, horn calls, and the thumping of swords against shields. The ground trembled and swayed.

"Cyrax, help me carry Kabal!" Jax ordered. "The rest of you damn well better move your asses ahead of us!"

"Go that way!" Jade yelled as she pointed her finger south.

The Army Ranger and the cyber-ninja hoisted their comrade onto their shoulders as the still-mobile fighters gathered up the packs full of supplies, and then the green-clad Edenian woman led them over the relatively even terrain of the flat-top ridge.

As Anya ran as fast as her feet could carry her, she heard the pounding beat of thousands of feet hurrying behind them. A ghastly shriek echoed over them as the Dragon King's army climbed over the edge, followed by a barrage of arrows raining upon the Champions from afar. One struck Cyrax and glanced off his armor while another barreled towards Scorpion. With supernatural reflexes, he yanked a katana from its scabbard, whirled around, and cut the arrow in half. Anya risked a look behind and saw the skeletons rapidly gaining on them, their footfalls growing ever louder.

Sonya turned and sprayed bullets from a machine gun at them, and Jax quickly followed her lead with a large pistol that thundered when he fired it. Cyrax halted the three warrior's progress for a moment to launch several missiles and grenades at the skeletons before they resumed their escape. Even Nightwolf tried to slow the soldiers by fitting ethereal green arrows to an equally mystical bow, and firing at will at them. Their combined efforts fell many soldiers, but not enough to make a difference, and especially when small tornadoes lifted their remains into the air, reassembled them, and planted them amongst their undead brethren once again.

Beside Anya, Khadija screamed in dismay and fear, but the Hydromancer remembered her powers; though not much in the grand scheme of things, she aimed her palms at the approaching warriors and sprayed powerful, pressurized jets of water at them. Though her aim wasn't exact, it didn't matter. She washed many of the front lines over the cliff's edge and caused even more to fall, which, like dominoes, caused the rear to fall as well. For a moment, she felt triumphant and shouted, "Yes!" And then she saw the skeletons start to recover quicker than she anticipated, and that abruptly ended her victory. Her action had only bought the Earthrealm Champions time, but not very much.

"Go that way!" Kitana now yelled as she pointed to the southwest. "The edge is not as steep over there and we can get down easier." The others all followed her and Jade.

* * *

On the opposite side of the temple, heading in a different direction entirely, Sub-Zero and Smoke also fled from the Dragon King's army as fast as they could as well, though the Lin Kuei Grandmaster was slower because of the injuries he'd already sustained. But where he lacked in speed, he made up for in power. Though nothing else seemed to slow the skeletons down, his ice proved to be their Achilles' heel. It didn't maim them, merely entombed them, evidently a distinction that their resurrecting power failed to recognize. So the Cryomancer indiscriminately froze anything behind him that moved. For once, something was going right today. But when he turned and saw thousands of them swarming over the western ridge, he knew they were after his friends and…

"Anya!" he yelled as he started to run towards the oncoming warriors.

"No!" Smoke yelled at him as he clamped down on his friend's tunic with his mechanical arm. "We're going this way!" he cried as he yanked him back.

The cyber-ninja was right, of course. Sub-Zero didn't want to abandon her and his friends, but for now, they were on their own. If he tried to run towards her and them like he wanted, the Dragon King's army would catch him, strip him of the Medallion, and kill both him and Tomas. What good would he be then? And especially if the Medallion made Onaga all-powerful like Raiden and Quan Chi had both suggested? He'd have to trust that they'd all be okay until he and Smoke could catch up to them. So with heavy heart, he resumed his task of freezing the enemy soldiers as he and his friend continued north.

* * *

Inside the temple, Raiden stood united with the two men he hated the most in the universe, Quan Chi and Shang Tsung, against Onaga who'd recovered from Sub-Zero's blow. As all three used their greatest powers against him, the former thunder god contemplated his hatred for the sorcerers. What complete and utter fools they had been! They should've known not to meddle with such dangerous magic, to so arrogantly seek out such power. They should've known to let the Dragon King stay dead. How could they be so stupid? They _knew_ what it had taken to destroy him last time. A god had had to sacrifice herself-

A _blood _sacrifice. But not just any blood. A _god's _blood.

It was the only thing he could think of to stop Onaga and end his new reign of terror before it even began.

Raiden frowned as they simultaneously broke off their attack. Both Quan Chi and Shang Tsung were tired, having exhausted most of their magic and their strength to fight Onaga, but he had stopped because he needed to use a different energy now. It would kill the sorcerers, what he had in mind, but the thought comforted him. It was, as the humans say, the frosting on the cake of an otherwise desperate situation. They _deserved_ to be punished for this hubris, for thinking that they could toy with the balance of the universe without suffering the consequences. And, if it happened to work, at least the Realms' greatest villains would be gone, allowing life to have a chance at legitimate peace.

"Do you have any clever ideas to solve this dilemma?" Quan Chi asked him, a touch of arrogance still in his voice, though markedly less than usual.

"One or two," Raiden bitterly replied before he began chanting ancient words from a language older than any language in all the Realms. Not even the sorcerers knew this tongue, nor would they learn.

Onaga _had _heard it before, and for the first time since his arrival, he chuckled. It wasn't a laugh of evil triumph, but rather one of pity. "Your sacrifice will be for nothing, Raiden," he warned as he crossed his arms.

But the thunder god ignored him and continued with his spell anyway. Long ago, he'd learned it from the Elder Gods, as all the younger deities had, in the unlikely event that they'd need to use it. He didn't quite know what to expect, but with every word he spoke, the more he felt his essence, the very fabric of his being, torn asunder from the inside out. It almost felt like the wavelengths of energy were now vicious enemies rather than cooperating allies, and they polarized, ripping the atoms apart. He began to glow white, his eyes the brightest and hottest part of his body. Then his hands, surging with the chaotic power of Creation itself, clenched into fists before him. The pressure built inside of him until it reached critical mass.

* * *

Sub-Zero and Smoke barely heard the low rumbling before the ground began to shake. Then the air in all directions, a massive circle encompassing several miles in circumference, suddenly raced inwards like a massive wave rushing to shore. Carrying dust and debris in towering cloud walls, the wind violently moved towards the focal point of the circle, Onaga's temple. It swept away the pursuing soldiers, and it would've sucked the two assassins into it as well had the Cryomancer and cyber-ninja not dove behind a boulder and held on for dear life.

"This _can't _be good!" Tomas yelled over the roaring cacophony.

"What was your first clue?" Kuai Liang yelled back, wondering what in the _hell _had precipitated a firestorm.

And then, not surprisingly, there was an explosion that rocked the ground even harder. It was so bright that it blinded them, and the thunder that accompanied it was deafening. A split second passed before the shockwave it produced shattered the rock the two hid behind and carried them into the air. Sub-Zero didn't know how long he stayed airborne, his body beaten and pummeled by flying debris, rocks, and stray bolts of lightning, but he didn't even care to know the answer. That was because, when the powerful winds finally cracked his body into the valley floor several miles away, his vision had gone black and his breathing had already stopped.

* * *

High on the ridge, the Earthrealm Champions watched as Onaga's temple imploded and then exploded, carrying a blinding sheet of white light with it. They crumpled to their feet when the shockwave hit, but the worst of it had been buffered by the sheer cliff wall that redirected the energy so that it passed harmlessly into the sky. Even before the painful blue stars and the photonegative of the world had passed from Anya's eyes, she pushed herself onto her arms and looked back. Something yanked out her heart then, and stomped it, and she screamed Kuai Liang's name as she felt all hope slip away. Before, there was the _tiniest_ chance that he had lived through his ordeal. But now? She couldn't deny that now, he was truly dead.

Then the light was gone, as was the temple. But around the smoking crater in the earth, the army reformed itself and knelt before the giant, winged figure before them. The Dragon King lived, and as far as anyone could tell, the blast hadn't even hurt him. The Champions climbed to their feet and stood rooted in horror as they stared at him in awe. Then Kitana and Jade shook themselves free of their shock before they flew forward once more, while Jax snapped the rest out of it.

He yelled, "Come on, people, let's move!" Then he, Kabal, and Cyrax hurried off.

The others obeyed, but Anya couldn't make herself stand, and she wasn't sure she even wanted to anymore. She dug her hands into the dirt to quell the screams building inside of her, wrapping her fingers around shifting lumps of fine loam silt, digging her nails so hard into her skin that they cut crescent-shaped wounds that trickled blood into the ground. She trembled because she struggled not to cry, but the ball in her throat was back, stretching it until it stung and brought tears to her eyes. And even though, half-blind, she saw the skeleton soldiers resume their pursuit, she still couldn't make herself stand.

So Scorpion, who'd seen her, grabbed her by the arm and yanked her. Anya, too proud to be carried, made herself put one foot in front of the other until at last, she could run again. Both terribly fast, she and the wraith quickly caught up with the others, and they all stumbled wildly down a steep embankment towards the bottom of the opposite side of the flat-top which emptied out into a vast desert. The skeletons' footfalls thumped loudly after them, and the Champions' pace was slowed by Jax and Cyrax helping Kabal. By the time they reached the bottom, the enemy soldiers had already made it halfway down.

So Cyrax turned and fired several missiles into the cliff face above them. The subsequent explosions triggered a rockslide that buried the Dragon King's army in tons of dirt and debris in an instant. The Earthrealm warriors only watched long enough to see if it would work, and when it did, they ran on, towards the west where vast columns of light pierced the black veil slowly settling on the land around them.


	44. Epilogue

Rain, barely conscious, struggled to breathe as the man dragged him through dusty roads towards some unknown destination. When he'd gripped the Hydromancer prince by a fistful of long hair and yanked him to his knees, the warrior dressed in polished black armor took no pity on him, but the demigod knew better than to complain. It was nothing short of miraculous that the elite Seidan Guard, a man of fearsome battlefield prowess and a dangerous single-mindedness focused solely on the notion of Order, hadn't executed him where he found him. All citizens throughout the Realms, if they were smart, feared these interdimensional policemen because they were quick to pronounce judgment, and even quicker to deal out sentences.

Rain just wished, silently of course, that the Seidan took greater care not to wiggle the massive ice sword still jutting through his chest as he dragged him through a battalion of the newly resurrected army. The demigod would survive the wound that Sub-Zero had dealt him whereas weaker beings could not, but even his body's natural healing processes had trouble keeping up with the constant jarring that prompted the blade to slowly saw away at the wound's edges. Not that it mattered much; if the Seidan wanted him, the Edenian was a dead man.

As he prepared for his genuine death, Rain loathed the Cryomancer for running off with his property, for swooping in in the nick of time to take his prize woman from him. His blood boiled at the memory of him stealing her and her welcoming it – a Hydromancer allied and in love with vermin like Sub-Zero? – and knew his rage was the only thing fueling his will to live. How could Anya have chosen _him _over one of her own kind? The sight of the two fighting beside each other had been scorched into his corneas permanently, and it was all he could see at the moment, slightly shaded red. Both of them needed to suffer for his humiliation. He regretted that he would be executed before he could see the Earthrealm Champion brought to justice.

At last, the Seidan threw him at the feet of a fearsome creature who would've towered above even Shao Kahn. His skin was scaly, green, and reptilian; his eyes, separated by a thin, black slit, glowed an evil yellow. Sharp horns burst from the joints in his wings and from bony growths on his face, inch long talons tipped his fingers, and sharp fangs protruded from the top and bottom of his mouth. Maroon and gold armor made him appear even more menacing, if such a thing were possible. And when Rain dared to look him in the eyes to meet his death like a true warrior, the creature grinned at him in amusement like a cat playing with a mouse before it finally killed it. Without meaning to, the Edenian began to tremble in fear.

Rain did not know how it was possible, but Onaga, the long-dead Dragon King made flesh once more, Shao Kahn's predecessor, had risen from the grave. The Emperor had assassinated the King long before Rain was born, so while he'd grown up hearing stories about the awesome might of Outworld's original ruler, nothing prepared him for the sight of the terrible creature that towered above him. Long had he'd believed that the title "Dragon King" was a reference to his skill as a warrior, but he had no idea that Onaga was both man and dragon fused together into one being.

"What is this?" his deep, inhuman voice asked the Seidan.

"I found him inside a smaller temple at the outer perimeter. What would you like to do with him, Lord Onaga?" the Guard asked.

He didn't answer him. Instead, he stamped a foot on Rain's back to brace himself as he clutched the hilt of Sub-Zero's kori sword and slowly yanked it from his ribs. The demigod couldn't stifle the cries of pain the slicing motion forced from him. When he'd retrieved the slowly melting weapon, the Dragon King sniffed the blood staining it, and then curiously tasted it with the tip of his tongue. Then he began to laugh cruelly at the Hydromancer gushing new blood on the dirt.

"Why, I had no _idea_ I was in the presence of a prince," he mocked. He kicked the Edenian in the ribs, knocking him onto his back as the prisoner groaned in agony. His ribs crackled around the sword wound. Onaga looked at the Seidan. "Kill him," he ordered. "He is treacherous."

Immediately, the Seidan gracefully spun around with his naginata, which the Hydromancer hadn't noticed until then, and arched it around at his throat. Quickly, Rain ducked the attack and screamed, "Wait!" Onaga hadn't seem to have heard as he stamped away indifferently. "My Lord, I pledge my loyalty to you!"

The Dragon King whirled around, holding up his hand to call off the Guard. "And why exactly should I trust you, _Prince _Rain?" he chided. "Wouldn't it be easier for me to kill you and save myself the headache?"

"I will do…whatever it is you ask of me," he pleaded. "I will help you. I swear it."

"You are a mere child playing at a grown-up game. I don't need your help. You are, at best, a bungling moron."

"Outworld has changed much since your rule, my Lord. I-"

"Obviously," he cut him off. "I do not remember it being quite so…bleak and abysmal. Shao Kahn ruined it, I should say." He paused and studied the kori sword again, deeply intrigued by its diamond-like facets. "You had a hand in my successor's demise, did you not?"

Rain inwardly scowled. "No, my Lord," he lied, but the Dragon King knew.

"And you betrayed the Hydromancers to him because they would not grant you the power you so desperately craved, yes?"

"My Lord, I-"

"Since you have a proven record of treachery, I would be foolish to expect you to behave any differently with me. Wouldn't you agree, your Highness?"

"They betrayed _me_," he croaked defensively. "I gave them everything I had, and their rewards were laughable at best." The Dragon King merely looked at him, his yellow eyes passive, so Rain abruptly changed the subject. "I could advise you. Give you key names and places. Identify spies and rebels."

Onaga chuckled heartily at that. "Do I look like I need you to help me with these things?" he pointed out. "I will strip this knowledge from your bones anyway. I have yet to hear a sufficient reason to spare your life, Chaos-monger."

Rain bowed his head to hide his derisive expression. Onaga was skillfully manipulating the Seidan into doing his bidding. The Guard was dedicated to stamping out all threats to the established order in the universe, to wiping out all traces of primordial chaos. By associating the demigod with anarchy and treachery, the Dragon King was essentially waving a juicy steak under the muzzle of a starving wolf. Rain abruptly decided to stop talking; his fate was sealed so there was no use begging like a woman for mercy.

Onaga laughed at the stoic gesture. "Hydromancers are nothing if not amusing little insects," he said. "It's good to see your race's propensity for pride and stubbornness is alive and well, Prince Rain. Now, tell me. What of this Sub-Zero? I am curious to know more about this Cryomancer who defeated you in battle."

"He didn't defeat me!" the demigod erupted furiously, unable to contain his rage. Burning tears of hatred streamed down his face. "I am a Hydromancer. I am better than that _filth_."

The Dragon King looked from Rain to the kori sword. "I have evidence in my hand to the contrary," he replied. "Is this not your blood all over his weapon?"

"Just kill me and be done with it," he said, clutching his chest where Sub-Zero drove the sword through. His cheeks flushed with humiliation.

"Now you're in a hurry to die? Just a moment ago you would've sacrificed your own mother to save yourself."

"It doesn't matter," he mumbled.

"That is where you're wrong, my Prince. It seems I have a reason to spare your life after all." Onaga glanced again at the sword. "The Cryomancer who bested you attacked me as well, and I am decidedly…put out by it."

"My Lord?" he said in suspicious confusion.

But Onaga ignored him and looked at the Seidan again. "You will hunt this…Sub-Zero down," he ordered.

"I am _not_ a bounty hunter," the other snarled. "I am here only to help restore Order."

"And what if I told you that this particular Cryomancer is Xing's descendant?" Onaga asked.

The warrior noticeably perked up at the name, and even Rain couldn't contain his interest. Xing was the Cryomancer who persuaded many of his people to turn against King Jerrod and fight for Shao Kahn, and those he couldn't turn he butchered. Their ancient city, Mòhé, built on the shores of the Bīnglěng de héshuĭ, was razed to the ground, the snow and ice surrounding it stained red with the blood of its people. The Elder God, Himavat, for reasons unknown to the demigod, took pity on the vermin's newborn son, a child named Jae, and disappeared with him before Xing could kill him or raise him to be as ruthless and wicked. Nobody knew exactly what happened to the baby, though it was long suspected Himavat hid him in Earthrealm where he would be safe from would-be assassins looking to snuff out his new life.

"I'm listening," the Seidan declared.

"The infant, it would seem, was taken to Earthrealm like you all have speculated," the Dragon King explained. "Himavat, ever the humanitarian, put him in the care of a childless couple. But I suspect he did not expect the Lin Kuei, a clan of assassins, to kidnap the boy and train him to use his powers to murder the powerless and weak for money. But even outside the influence of his treacherous family, in another Realm entirely, Jae proved that disloyalty and rebellion course through his veins. He killed his Grandmaster in cold blood." He fixed his eyes directly on Rain's before he continued speaking, almost as if warning him not to follow in Jae's footsteps. "It is a trait passed down from father to son through the ages, and even Xing's youngest descendant, this Cryomancer called Sub-Zero, was a traitor long before he attacked me and challenged my right to rule Outworld. He too, has disobeyed the Lin Kuei, rebelled, and taken that which was not his from them. And now, he calls _himself_ the Grandmaster." Onaga scoffed.

"Furthermore," he continued, "he has stolen something from me." He turned the kori sword over in his hand several times. "My Dragon Medallion. I require it to restore balance and order to Outworld."

"Very well," the Seidan finally agreed after a long pause. "I find your case against him valid. I will find him and bring him to you."

"I'm glad you see my point of view," the Dragon King said, and Rain almost heard a threat in his deep voice, but said nothing as he watched him hand the sword, blade down, to the Guard. "Let your dogs smell this so that you might better track his scent."

"Are you sure he's still in Outworld?" the other asked. "Is it possible he's fled to a different Realm? Back home to Earthrealm, to be precise?"

"For now, he's stuck," he explained. "Raiden is dead, and Himavat, along with Toci and Gaia, has gone into hiding. So I suspect that Sub-Zero's trying to gather an army unto him so he can march against me and oppose my authority over Outworld once more."

"He may be with the other Earthrealm Champions," Rain said, now determined to help the Seidan Guard bring Sub-Zero before the Dragon King. Just the thought of him begging for the tyrant's mercy rejuvenated him.

"Bring him to me alive," Onaga commanded. "Kill anyone who tries to stop you from lawfully arresting him."

The Seidan Guard bowed slightly, rigidly, and started to march away when the Dragon King stopped him. "Hotaru, do not fail me," he said. This time, the threat was unmistakable. "I do not appreciate failure."

Now the warrior, Hotaru, stiffened but nodded. "Nor do I, that is why I do not fail."

"Good. Now go. Find him."

When the Seidan was gone, Rain looked up at Onaga uncertainly, not knowing how to proceed from there. "My Lord?" he asked in a small voice. "You said you had a reason to spare me?"

The Dragon King studied him until Rain felt awkward. "By your own mouth, it is clear that you expect to be compensated well for your loyalty," he began. "It is in my power to do what you wish, and I will, to an extent. So, in exchange for your services, what shall I pay you?" he asked, his voice lilted arrogantly.

The Edenian didn't even have to think about it. "I want Sub-Zero's head on a platter," he growled as he looked into the distance. "And I want that harlot to watch before I take her head too. I want her to know the price of betraying _me_."

"I find your request reasonable," he announced. "I can see into your heart, and I know that what you really desire is to make him suffer before he dies. You can have that. The key will be to make her suffer first. Therefore, I want you to find her and bring her to me. You are not to lay a finger on her until I interrogate her. Do you understand, Prince Rain?"

"Yes, my Lord," he replied obediently, wondering what the catch was.

"She and he have gone separate directions."

Now the Edenian looked at him in astonishment. They wouldn't willingly leave each other's side, would they? But he didn't question it much. It was apparent now that Sub-Zero would track her down to the ends of Creation just to keep her safe from harm. It was, Rain surmised, his Achilles' heel. If Anya was on her own, she'd be much easier to catch, and much easier to use as bait.

"I understand," he told the Dragon King, and truthfully so.

"But know this, Rain," Onaga said. "I do not tolerate treachery in any form. You will obey me in all things. If you violate my terms, I will find you and destroy you. And because you've made so many enemies in your lifetime, young Prince, you will find that you have no place to hide."

"Yes, my Lord."

"Your compliance is not enough for me," he stated. "I am appointing someone to watch you, to report back to me immediately if it's obvious you're feeling rebellious."

Rain bristled at the announcement. "I do _not _need a wet-nurse-"

"You will do as I say or I will assume you're against me," he interrupted in a low, dangerous tone.

The demigod hung his head, deciding not to press his luck. "My apologies, my Lord. Please forgive my outburst. Who is this person you speak of."

"Someone you're already quite familiar with," he replied.

Onaga now pointed a reptilian talon towards his army, and row by row the soldiers broke their formation just enough to let a figure pass through. Quickly, a woman appeared, an ancient Edenian whose long white hair had been gathered into a silver clip at the crown of her head before cascading to her knees like a waterfall. When Rain saw her using a shiny kwan dao like a walking staff, his mouth fell agape into a large 'o' shape. All reports had pointed towards her demise in Earthrealm during Shao Kahn's invasion; she was supposedly dead.

As she approached him, a wicked grin spread across her lips, and her solid white eyes sized him up and down. "Hello, Rain," she said sweetly with ominous undertones. "Have you missed me?"

"This can't be," he mumbled. "You're…you're _dead_."

"Obviously, I'm not," she curtly replied.

Onaga, also bearing an amused smirk on his face, said, "Prince Rain, is that any way to talk to your former mistress?"

Though already on his knees, he made himself even more prostrate before her to oblige the Dragon King, and then he said, "Empress Sindel, I await your command."

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


	45. Acknowledgements

Nobody is more surprised than me that I've stuck it out for the duration of a _second _Sub-Zero story, with plans for a third. You know why I've actually had the discipline to do it? It's because I have my readers' enthusiasm constantly encouraging me to keep writing my humble little fan-fics. I've said it before and I'll probably say it at least a thousand more times, but it is so awe-inspiring to me that of all the stories swirling around the internet, you've found mine and actually like them enough to stick with them! Even though this is just my hobby, your support still motivates me to work. So I have to say thank you to all you readers out there, whether you're regular reviewers or just silent observers. Without you, I wouldn't have discovered it was possible for me to finish writing stories this long, and I certainly wouldn't believe in myself enough to one day write a bestselling novel. Those are the most precious things you've given to me, and I can't thank you enough for that.

Next, I'd like to thank all the pen pals I've made in the past couple of years. You've opened up my world and enlightened me to how things can be elsewhere. And this isn't limited to just my overseas pen pals either. Even those of you who, like me, live in the United States have educated me tremendously. Since knowledge is what I value the most, thank you for taking me to school.

Lastly, I'd like to thank the friends who've helped me write this story. Obelisk of Light and Grandmaster Sub-Zero have consistently been there for me whenever I needed someone to bounce ideas off of, and I can always count on their completely honest and fair opinions to guide me. And in addition, they're cool people simply to talk to, and they make me laugh quite a bit.

Firebending Master is also a master fight choreographer; without his help, I don't think my fight scenes would've been nearly as interesting and epic. And I won't fault him (too much) for trying to get Scorpion to dramatically overpower Sub-Zero in their fight halfway through the story! And I _certainly _won't fault him for his constant wise-cracking at my expense! He's pretty cool to talk to too, even if he _is _ornery to a fault…;)

My good friend Overseerneversleeps deserves a thank you because he is also consistently there for me to bounce ideas off of, and he frequently talks me down from my extremely neurotic edge. But in addition, he's one of the kindest, most down-to-earth souls I know, and I'm so glad that even though he was shy and afraid to send me a PM, he plucked up the courage to say hello because now I have a wonderful friend.

Last, but certainly not least, is my young friend Haven Rose, who is quite the comedian. As many of you may or may not know, I'm a teacher by day, and I can honestly say that I wish all my students were as bright and talented as she is; I've seen her grown leaps and bounds as a writer since I first met her, and I know it's because she absorbs my advice like a sponge but then just runs with it in ways I never even imagined. I appreciate that she has enough respect for me to listen to my suggestions and take them under advisement, but she also has enough self-confidence to do things her own way when she disagrees with me. And while I could rave all day about what an awesome friend and pen pal she is, what I really want to thank her for is her help with Kabal's characterization. I can't tell you how many hours we've spent figuring out what snappy thing he was going to say and at what time.

So once more, thank you all for everything that you do, and I hope that you'll continue on this journey with me as I start writing my third installment in this series. So, in the words of a variation on a funny internet meme: Keep calm and finish him! And yes, that was cheesy, but I just finished my second story so I don't care. I will be as cheese-tastic as I want to be! XD Peace out, my friends!


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